


Strangers

by cactuuar



Category: Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Real World, Crushes, F/M, Memory Loss, Not completed, Sister-Sister Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-18
Updated: 2014-07-07
Packaged: 2018-01-05 03:06:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 27,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1088866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cactuuar/pseuds/cactuuar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a heated argument with her younger sister, Lightning wishes for something that she never would have imagined would come true. Now she needs to get the old gang back together in this strange, new world that never seems to slow down, all to find her sister once again. Except, there's one catch. <br/>"Lightning, you're an only child."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Causes

**Author's Note:**

> This will be a work in progress, so bear with me! ^^  
> The story is set one year after the events of Final Fantasy XIII, ignoring XIII-2 and Lightning Returns.  
> [I do not own the Final Fantasy XIII storyline/plot nor any of the characters]

To say she was upset was an understatement.

Lightning. Was. _Beyond. Pissed._

It wasn’t bad enough that the new recruits had no past experience of combat or training, causing the woman to work overtime for the past two weeks with absolutely no coffee breaks in between, no, the world seemed to hate her at that moment. Her twenty second birthday was around the corner, and has she had a break? Of course not (As if her twenty first birthday went exactly according to plan), her sister also had to go and plan a secret trip with her fiance, Snow.

Now, Snow and herself were on okay terms, with the occasional jibe and joke here and there, and Light knew she could trust him with her sister, but that didn’t mean they could up and leave right before her birthday. Or at anytime, for that matter. However, the problem wasn’t that the soldier would feel lonely or neglected if they forgot her birthday; the reason was completely unrelated to her own emotions. The crisis to Lightning was leaving them alone for who knows how long. Who knew what they would do-

She’d always have to shake her head and stop her thoughts right there before any images were conjured up.

Today, however, seemed to be the worst out of the past few week. After coming home from a grueling and rather long training session with the new recruits, who seemed to have no idea what they were doing as of yet, the pink-haired woman found Serah packing articles of clothing and several bottles of shampoo and body washes into a light blue suitcase in the living room. Resisting her urge to get straight to the point and ask what exactly the younger thought she was doing, Lightning startled Serah slightly by saying, “I’m home.”

Her pale blue eyes met Serah’s matching ones, and the younger let a nervous laugh out. “H-Hey, sis, you scared me for a second.”

“Packing already?” _Easy, keep your cool, it’s just a trip, they’ll be back in no time._

Serah nodded, turning back to folding a shirt and tucking it into the suitcase. “Yeah, we’re leaving tomorrow.”

A pang of hurt touched her chest, but she quickly shook it off and extinguished the emotion. Crossing her arms over her chest, still in her uniform, Light replied, “Tomorrow...already?”

Shutting her suitcase, the younger zipped it up after checking for no missing clothes or bottles. Obviously, it seemed that Serah was too absorbed in her relationship to catch the glimpse of hurt that crossed her sibling’s features. “Well, yeah, we have to get out of New Bodhum and get to New Palumpolum by Wednesday, so we have to leave tomorrow, Saturday. We’ll have more time to do stuff this way.”

_Do stuff, huh..?_

“Serah, I don’t think you should go.”

The younger froze, her hand hovering over the suitcase handle. It was her turn to be hurt. “Sis, what do you mean-”

“I mean that you’re too young to be going on a trip with Snow,” It wasn’t that Lightning was aiming to be rude or controlling, but her worry for her sister and her own hurt from Serah forgetting her birthday tomorrow was driving her in the wrong direction. It wouldn’t be the first time she let her emotions get the better of her, after all, their whole L’cie-saving-the-world fiasco had started because she had let her anger get the better of her. Yet, how could she not? After risking her own life and going through Gran Pulse and almost destroying Eden, not to mention having to face the Sanctum, Fal’cie and Barthandelus, this was the thanks she got? It was not fair to her.

Nothing was ever fair for Lightning, it seemed, as Serah quickly faced her elder sibling with new-found courage. “Lightning, you can’t be serious. Snow is my fiance, I have the right to go wherever I please with him.”

“The _right?_ ” The woman let a bitter chuckle leave her lips, her hands on her hips. “Look where that got you, Serah. Crystallized. Almost dead.”

“That was no one’s fault, Lightning,” Serah shot back, eyes narrowing. Her sister’s bitterness towards her was causing her to become angry. Why was she acting like this? She was fine a few days ago, when she had told her of the trip - she already gave her blessing for the wedding, which was in a few months! If she didn’t approve, she would have said something about it then, so why exactly was Lightning making this a big deal? “Not Snow’s, not anyone’s. If you had only been there, none of that would have happened. Instead you were off working-”

“Excuse me for wanting to support you, Serah! You were going off to college, what was I supposed to do, let us starve? You know I had to take on some extra shifts.”

“I couldn’t live like that anymore, alone and abandoned!”

“ _You_ couldn’t live like that?” The pink-haired woman nearly blew her top at that statement. For a moment, she couldn’t remember why she was upset before, because now she had a new reason to be upset. “Why didn’t you leave?”

The younger was taken aback at the question. Her sister was beyond upset with her, and she could tell easily by Lightning was standing - straight military-style, no nonsense form - and by the fierceness in her pale blue eyes. She’s seen those kind of eyes too many times before, not always directed towards her. With anger bubbling up in her, Serah balled her hands into tight fists. “I can’t wait until I’m married. I can leave, then!”

Light turned on her heel, beginning to leave the room. “You’re already packed. No one’s stopping you.”

* * *

Ignoring the several text messages piling up on her phone, no doubt from Snow, Lightning pulled the sheets over her head to block out the fading sunlight streaming through her window. After changing out of her uniform, she went straight to bed to drown herself in warmth and blankets. Even if she didn’t want to admit it to herself, the argument had gotten to her. She had her doubts of Serah actually wanting to leave during that time, but her suspicions had been confirmed after all.

And it tore her apart.

Shifting to lie on her side, her eyes peeked out from the pale green sheets to absentmindedly examine the picture on her side table, next to her blinking alarm clock. It was one she salvaged from her childhood, when her parents were still alive and Serah was still very young. No worries back then, it was simply her and her family and no Fal’cie or Sanctum business to worry about.

She turned away from the photo in distaste, instead facing the window. Pulling the sheets over her head once more, she decided to get some sleep for the next few days, ignoring the fact that her birthday will upon her soon and she’d have to get out of bed to answer the texts she’ll receive from Sazh and Hope.

“I wish I didn’t have a sister...”

 


	2. Explanations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We finally get the story actually moving in this chapter!  
> [I do not own the Final Fantasy XIII storyline/plot nor any of the characters]

_When did this bed get so hard? Next time, I’m picking out the mattresses..._

Lightning let a yawn leave her lips, arms stretching upwards and pushing the sheets from her head, her disheveled hair clouding her eyes. Sitting up and brushing the strands of strawberry pink hair from her face, she rubbed at her eyes and squinted at the time on her side table—

 This wasn't her bed.

 Bolting up, fully awake and soldier-mode kicking in, the woman found herself on the ground, and not a very kind one, either. It wasn't carpeted like her room, it was a brown, musty and hard plank wood floor, not very suitable for sleeping. Next to her stood a twin sized mattress, light blue sheets instead of green. Her side table didn't hold her normal, black alarm clock with blinking numbers, nor did it have the small family photo she had salvaged. Instead it had a traditional, round clock with a dial on the top to stop the alarm, ticking arms going around the numbers, and it held a different family photo. Running a hand through her hair, Lightning reached for the photo to examine it closer: a young girl with light blonde hair, pale blue eyes and a maroon cape tied around her shoulders like a superhero— that couldn't have been anyone Lightning knew— a mother with hardened green eyes and dirty blonde hair braided over her shoulder, hugging the younger girl as she sat in her lap. It was a nice and simple picture, but where had she gotten it?

 Finally standing from her spot on the floor, along with picking up the blanket she had fallen with and setting it on the bed, she noted that the room she stood in was not hers, either. Where a tall bookshelf once stood next to her closet was a large dresser, her reflection staring back at her through the mirror. There were several articles of cosmetics and perfume bottles, things that she never would have used in her lifetime unless needed. That, and it wouldn't be so messy, as Light spotted several shirts and blouses on the floor in bunches. Her window that took up most of the wall was gone, replaced by a smaller window and different posters on the cream colored wall, which irked the soldier at how crooked they were placed.

 "Where am I?" Lightning muttered to herself, rubbing an eye to make sure this wasn't a dream. Realization dawned onto her then, and she ignored her own confusion to seek out her younger sister, soldier-mode coming back into affect. "Serah!"

 Rushing out of the door, she nearly crashed into another woman, who immediately caught herself and Lightning, laughing slightly. "Woah, darling, what's the rush?" Blinking her blue eyes, The pink haired woman looked up towards a pair of green eyes and dirty blond hair tied back in a ponytail, a fuzzy, green bathrobe over a pair of sweatpants and tank top. She looked identical to the woman in the picture frame, Lightning noted. "It's Saturday, you should be in bed!"

She had no words, just an open mouth which she quickly closed. Who was this woman, and why did she act so casually around her? The only people she allowed inside her home was Serah, Hope and Sazh, not to mention Snow. That reminded her, she had to find Serah— she couldn't have left for her trip so soon. "E-Excuse me, but I'm not—"

 "Claire Luce Farron, have you been drinking last night or something? You're acting awfully strange for someone who's turning twenty two today," The fact that this stranger knew her real name sent chills to her spine, along with more confusion and suspicion. "What's gotten into you?"

 "How do you know my name?" Her eyes narrowed into a glare as she slipped around the woman to stand in the hallway that, once again, wasn't familiar to Lightning. This whole situation was becoming rapidly frightening to the soldier, waking up in a different room with things that weren't yours, finding a woman who knew your name for some reason— and where was Serah? She should have been out and about now, aware of the sudden woman who seemed to know something that Lightning didn't. "And-And who are you?"

 The woman's expression suddenly went from amused to concerned in a split second, her hand reaching to touch Light's arm. "Claire, this isn't funny. What's the matter with you?"

 "My name is Lightning." She snapped, turning on her heel to begin her search for Serah.

 Apparently, the woman had had enough at that moment and reached for Light's wrist, her grip tight and mouth set in a frown. Whoever this lady was, she had a tough side that leveled Light's. "This is unlike you, Claire, have you lost your memory or something?"

 Wiggling out of her grasp, Light demanded, “Where’s my sister?”

 The blonde raised an eyebrow and blinked in surprise at her question. Taking a step towards Lightning, who took a step back, she gently replied, “Claire, we need to get you to a doctor -”

 “Tell me where my sister is and I’ll leave!” Her eyes narrowed into slits and her soldier-mode was starting to show even more as her frustration grew.

 “Claire, you’re an only child!”

  _...What?_

 Lightning stumbled on her feet, losing her balance as the words echoed through her mind. This wasn’t her home in Cocoon, it wasn’t her life, and it didn’t add up. She was an only child? There was no Serah, no Snow, no Hope - no one?

 The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. That’s why this woman was calling her Claire, she had no need to become Lightning for Serah, there was no need to join the army to support them, no one was trying to take Serah away from her, Snow never met Serah, she never became a L’cie, she never met Hope, Fang, Vanille, Sazh, anyone. She had a normal life, it seemed, by the way the room that she awoke in appeared. No worries, no fighting, no training, no Sanctum laws to obey - there wasn't anything that made her home _home._

 Lightning sank to her knees, ignoring the tears that threatened to fall over. tears were a foreign thing to her, she never had the reason to cry or feel remorse after her parent’s death. She had Serah to keep her smiling, keep her fighting, keep her sane.

 Now, even that was gone.

 “Claire? Claire, we need to get you to a doctor, you must have hit your head -”

 “D-Don’t touch me!” Just as soon as the tears fell over and onto her cheeks, she wiped them away with a swipe of the back of her hand, flinching at the woman’s touch. “I’m not the-the Claire you know, alright? My name is Lightning, and,” she swallowed a lump in her throat that threatened to become a sob, “You’re lying. I have a sister to find.”

 With that, she turned on her heel and dashed through the hallway, passing several rooms and pictures hanging on the walls, ignoring the woman behind her who immediately followed her through the house. Lightning could care less for that woman - her mother in this world, she assumed - all she needed right now was to find Serah. However, this house wasn’t exactly the smallest house to run through, and she found herself getting lost within seconds of running. Two hallways stretched before her, and she could hear footsteps getting closer and closer behind her. Before she could start sprinting down the left hallway, she was tackled from behind and onto the floor, arms being restricted by a pair of hands and a knee of her stomach to keep her from escaping.

 “Let me go!” The pink-haired woman yelled, struggling to break free.

 The blonde kept her grasp and blew some hair from her eyes. “Not until you explain what’s gotten into you, young lady!”

 Lightning mentally rolled her eyes. She hasn’t been called that in years, and she really did not need some fake mother calling her that. “Let. Me. _Go!”_

 “I will not hesitate to call the police, tell me who you are!”

 Panting slightly, and with a stern and vicious look from the woman holding her down, Lightning ceased her struggling, and the woman lifted her knee and let her arms go. Standing up, the blonde above her shook her head, hands on her hips. “Explain yourself.”

 Rubbing her wrists, the soldier muttered in reply, “Where did you learn to pin someone down like that?”

 “Eight years in the military will make some things stick with you. Now, start talking.”

 It looked as if she didn’t have a choice. “I’m not Claire - not the Claire you know, at least. My name is Lightning, and I’m not-I’m not from _here_. What is this place?”

 "New York City. Where are you from, then?" She asked, quirking an eyebrow. Surely Lightning must have sounded crazy, except the woman didn't feel any reason to actually involve the police. If anything, she was curious to know where Light was going with this story.

 "New Bodhum," her eyes glanced at one of the windows on the wall, towering buildings and giant billboards standing outside, "Is this still Cocoon?"

 "'Cocoon'? Honey, wherever you came from isn't on earth," she brushed some blonde strands from her eyes once more and turned towards on of the hallways, deciding to let this whole ordeal go for the time being. "Come on, you can explain over coffee."

* * *

 

 "...well, from what I can tell, you're pretty far from home, missy." The woman, who said to be named Anna, sighed while taking a sip from her sweetened coffee.

 "I'm just looking for my sister, that's all," Light repeated Anna's actions with a guilty look in her pale eyes. She was surprised Annaactually listened to her story; it wasn't a very normal one. Lightning didn't give many details— she woke up after a fight with her sister, and now she doesn't know what to do or where to look for her. "Not to mention everyone else..."

 Over coffee, the two discussed exactly what life Anna and "Claire" lived: a simple home in an apartment near "Times Square"— an area with tons of lights and giant screens advertising several things all at once— also near Claire's university. Claire used to have blonde hair, just like the young girl in the picture, but around the age of sixteen, Anna let her dye her hair a light pink (to which Lightning insisted that her hair color was _natural_ ). Overall, Light and Claire were two completely different people.

 Anna gave Light a sympathetic look and stood from her chair, taking her mug to the sink. The flat television hanging on the wall besides several cabinets softly hummed with that day's news, giving reports on several happenings in this world. Every report seemed to be involved with murder, rape, homicides and several morbid topics— it shocked Light how violent this world was; with such a comfortable view from the window, it looked like this world was another Cocoon. "I'm willing to help, Lightning. Simply because I know you're my daughter, even if you technically aren't, I still feel obligated to help you," she returned to her seat, "I believe you."

 A rare smile graced the soldier's features. "Thank you, Anna," While this woman wasn't or ever will be her mother, she did feel a sense of gratefulness and trust towards her. Also, she did feel a bit sympathetic for her; Light didn't mean to spoil her day. "I need to start looking as soon as possible, though. I should track down my friends first."

 She had a pretty good idea of who to look for first; her closest companion during the L'cie situation was sure to come in handy now. He was sixteen now, he was sure to handle this situation calmly, after how much he matured throughout their travels, Light figured.

 The dirty blonde across from her nodded, on board with helping Lightning. "Alright, well, do you have any idea where he could be?"

  _Crap._ "Er...no." This was going to be harder than it seemed, she realized while running a hand through her hair. Did she really expect to find them that easily? It could take her weeks, months to track them down, and she needed to find Serah as soon as possible so they can figure out a way to go back home somehow—

_"— And now, a special report from our Sports Center! Tomorrow evening, the New York Yankees tackle the Houston Astros for the championship, and we've got a great team for us tomorrow!"_ Anna and Light's attention was brought to the television screen, where a report was being said about a sports game between two teams that Light really couldn't care less about. Anna, however, seemed interested as she leaned slightly forward in her seat towards the report on screen to listen intently. Light half heartedly listened as the other half of her searched for ways to possibly find everyone. _"With Dylan Rivera, Brandon Hans, and Lee Stewart pitching for us, we've got nothing to worry about, along with our star batter, who just recovered from an ankle injury, Snow Villiers!"_

 Light's head whipped towards the screen, where they displayed a baseball player with messy blond hair, slight stubble on his chin and bright blue eyes— no bandanna this time, however— delivering a swing to a ball that was being thrown towards him in a stadium. She stood abruptly from the table, startling Anna slightly, and the corners of her lips quirked upwards. "Found one."


	3. Hey, Batter, Batter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> over 3000 words! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ   
> my fingers are numb TwT

 Lightning didn't know what was worse: getting thrown into a different universe with her friends scattered into different regions of the planet, or not being able to find anything suitable to wear from Claire's closet.

  _Honestly, she could learn to cover up a bit more_ , the soldier thought grumpily to herself as she went through the walk-in closet's contents once more with little patience. The only type of clothing she found so far were that of a preppy young adult, one who went out to parties often. If she was going to get into the baseball stadium somehow, it had to be in appropriate clothing; airy, easy to move around in, not too close to her skin. Her Guardian Corps uniform came to mind, and she grinded her teeth slightly in frustration. There was no way she'd be able to get it now, it was long gone— at least until she could get back home with the others.

 But dear Maker, how she missed her cape.

 Finally deciding on something that seemed similar to her clothing back on Cocoon (a sleeveless, dark purple zip-up turtle neck and dark green cargo pants) the woman was lucky to have spotted a par of combat boots in the back of the closet, seemingly abandoned. Perhaps Claire didn't fancy them, but to Lightning, they were a gift from the gods.

 She felt a bit helpless without her beloved gunblade, Blazefire, but she knew she couldn't rely on her weapon forever, especially now. Besides, she still retained her knowledge of self-defense from her early military training; punching, kicking and the most important of all, how to knock someone out with a simple touch to the neck or shoulder.

 Brushing through her bangs swiftly, she headed out of Claire's bedroom and into the hall, on her way towards the kitchen. Anna said she would be preparing a plan on how to get in, complete with a map and everything. "Easy-peasy, trust me," is what the woman insisted, however Lightning wasn't so sure to believe her on this matter. Who knows what the blonde had in mind.

 "Lightning! You manage to find something to wear?" Anna grinned as Lightning arrived at the kitchen, shifting around in what appeared to be a small bag at the small dining table, the television across from her quietly humming the evening news. "Claire was always one for fashion."

 "I'm not sure 'fashion' is the correct word," the soldier grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest as she idly watched Anna. "What is that?"

 The older woman turned to face her, two slips of paper in her hand and a happy grin on her lightly freckled face, "Our tickets to the game! I've had these babies for weeks; was planning on taking Claire, but this is more important."

 Lightning blinked in slight surprise. "Those will get us in? Just like that?"

 "Of course! They weren't cheap, ya know." Anna pursed her lips before slinging the bag over her shoulder, stuffing the two tickets inside. "You don't have sports where you come from?"

 The elder Farron shook her head, uncrossing her arms. "Not like the ones here. These are much more competitive, and it seems like everyone spends their time watching these games rather than doing other leisure activities." Such as fearing the Fal'cie and it's minions, l'Cie. Usual stuff back on Cocoon, she added bitterly in her mind. Now wasn't the time to her bitter, however, now was the time to act. They needed to somehow get to Snow before the actual game began, and before security or anyone could stop them. Anna explained the basics of baseball stadiums, and how it's usually crawling with security and alcohol. The alcohol part wasn't so surprising, but the security part did set Lightning on edge. Why must there be so much security for a simple game? It wasn't like there was anything to steal or rob, except the bases that Anna mentioned in her explanation the day before.

 "Oh, trust me, honey, we spend our time doing a lot of stuff," the former soldier winked towards Lightning, heading towards the front door of the apartment. "Ready to head out?"

 "Let's get this over with." With that, they left the cozy apartment and into the outside hallway, the distant cheers and bright lights from the stadium not too far from their position on the thirteenth floor.

* * *

 

  _“Ladies and gentlemen, it is a fine evening to be hosting the Championship in New York City! Find your seats quickly and grab your snacks because the players are already making their way out onto the field! Here comes Lee Stewart, who has just gotten engaged recently...”_

 The crowd drowned out the PA system announcing the players as they streamed onto the pure green field, everyone making haste to grab their food (which, Light noticed, was extremely greasy and fried) and get to their seats, ready to start whatever these people paid money for. Anna seemed totally fired up, exclaiming that the Yankees had this game in the bag, that Houston was going down, odd expressions that the Guardian Corps member had never heard of, not even from Sazh. It was obvious Anna wanted to be here more than Lighting.

 While Anna was busy grabbing a quick drink from one of the numerous stands there was littered around the giant stadium, Lighting gave herself time to think of a plan. Exactly how were they going to get away, if the need arose? Sure, her companion had a mental map of the area, and she clearly knew this place much better than the average person, but what if Snow were to say no to her request of finding Serah again? The soldier shook the thought away every time it invaded her mind. There was no way that was even a possibility - he adored Serah, and is probably confused as to what was going on around him, like herself. She’d find him, get his aid, find everyone else and get their aid, then finally track down Serah. From there, they’d manage to find a way back home, somehow.

 “Lightning?” Anna snapped the pink-haired woman out of her thoughts as she approached her with a red can in one hand and a clear bottle filled with clear liquid in another. Light guessed that it was water, however the red can stumped her as to what it might be. “You alright?”

 She nodded. “Yes, sorry. Just thinking.”

 Anna grinned, handing the bottle towards her. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure out how to get Snow on our team.”

 Lightning gratefully accepted the water bottle and unscrewed the top, taking a sip to calm her doubts. Perhaps Anna was right; she didn’t need to worry about this.

 The pair found their seats quickly, due to Anna knowing exactly where every seat was, so the ticket with their seat position really wasn’t even needed. Lightning made a note to herself to ask Anna of her extensive knowledge of this stadium once this situation was under control. They were seated on one of the closer compartments of the stadium, the field only a few feet and a jump away from them - something Light took another note of in case of an emergency. The stadium itself was gigantic, larger than any stadium she’s ever seen back on Pulse or Cocoon, and bright, almost white lights shined down the crowd and players, illuminating their movements and highlighting every feature. There seemed to be no ceiling, instead the inky purple sky acted as a ceiling, emphasizing the bright lights that were positioned high above the audience. Behind the seats were the concession stands, vending different and odd kinds of food and desserts - or what she guessed were food and desserts, the only thing recognizable to her were the ice cream and alcohol - and several pieces of merchandise having to do with both teams. People obviously got fired up for this sort of thing, and the soldier didn’t need a description to know that. Her description was sitting right next to her.

 Lightning quickly spotted Snow, the blond stretching with a few of his teammates. He didn’t have his usual bandana over his mop of blond hair, instead a simple cap was slung over his locks. He was missing his engagement necklace, which bothered Light somehow, but she brushed it off - he probably didn’t want to get it ruined during the game. Other than that, his features were exactly the same, and it seemed his personality remained unchanged as well, judging by the way he was laughing and winking at most of his teammates. _At least he’s still the same person_ , she thought to herself.

 “See him?” Anna asked, taking a gulp from the red can.

 “Yeah. He looks the same as I remember him,” the woman replied, crossing her arms over her chest, letting a chuckle escape her lips.

 “What’s your relation to him, anyways?” the woman besides her asked, now curious as to how close they actually were. She was guessing they were pretty close, by the way Light was anxious to speak to him.

 She hesitated, but soon brushed it off. “He’s my...brother in law.” It felt strange to say that so casually. “He’s engaged to my sister, but he’s been calling me ‘sis’ since the moment they were engaged. He’s an annoying little brother, alright...”

 The dirty blonde let out a laugh, “Sounds like a perfect little brother, in my opinion. I grew up with three brothers - all doctors,” She took a sip from her drink, and Light couldn’t help but grow intrigued by her background, “Except me. I wanted to go into the army like my pops. Of course he was all for the idea, but my mom...that took some convincing.”

 “Was she worried?”

 “You bet your ass she was. She thought I’d get killed the minute I stepped on base. Of course, I never got deployed anywhere too dangerous, but she never failed to call me everyday while I was away from home.”

 Lightning blinked her pale blue eyes slowly, looking back towards the field before saying, “I was in the military, as well.”

 “‘Cause you wanted to? What did your parents say?” Anna looked towards the younger woman besides her, noticing how her edgy composure was gone.

 “That actually was the reason I had to join. My parents died, and it was just my sister and myself. She was only twelve, and I was fifteen, but I knew I had to support us and stay strong for the both of us; the army sounded like a good idea,” Her hands gripped the bottle in her hands. Why did she feel so comfortable telling Anna all of this? She was still a stranger to her, it wasn’t like she actually felt that the other woman was someone close to her. And yet, she found herself becoming more and more comfortable and at ease around the former soldier, almost as if “Claire” was speaking out and yearning for her mother. Lightning wasn’t that Claire, however the sudden attraction didn’t go unignored. Now that Light thought about it, and with the talk of her past, Anna did share some traits with her own mother - caring, firm, determined, easy-going, and whenever the woman would smile or laugh it filled Light with comfort and protection. This woman still saw her as her own daughter, despite the truth. “So I figured, why not? A few years passed by, and I didn’t even notice that Serah was growing up. She got taller, and her hair got longer, she was looking more and more like our mother everyday.

 “She even - she even started wearing her hair like I used to. How did I miss that? And when did she start seeing Snow? I missed everything, and I can never forgive myself for that. I have so much to make up for, I can’t let her go this easily, not after I fought against the whole world to save her...”

 Without noticing it, the soldier found her vision blurred with tears. Tears were foreign to her, having been used to not crying and holding it in, trying not to let her weakness show, even at her parents’ death. She learned to become strong for Serah, but now that Serah was grown and had someone else to be strong for her, who else can Lightning be strong for?

 Anna shifted in her seat, draping an arm around the younger’s shoulders. “Lightning, you can’t blame yourself for all of that. You did the right thing and learned to support your sister by yourself, you practically raised her. You should be proud that you were able to overcome a tragedy so quickly, not many people would be able to do that. We’re gonna find your sister and get you back home, you hear me?” she rubbed her shoulder soothingly, “So don’t go crying on me.”

 The pink-haired woman let a small chuckle leave her lips, bringing a hand up to wipe at her eyes. “I won’t. Thank you, Anna.”

 _“Ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you to the American Championship League, sponsored by Chick-fil-A and Toyota!”_ the announcer sounded eager and excited; players started rushing to their spots on the bright green field and on the diamond that was stretched on a dusty part of the ground, towards the audience.

  “It’s starting!” Anna squealed, slipping her drink into one of the cup holders on the chair in front of her. Light did the same, her eyes trained on the field with a plan forming in her head. After the game, she had to track Snow down, somehow, and talk to him. She had to get him to help her retrieve their friends and Serah, because without him, Lightning knew that this would be harder. He had great strength both physically and emotionally of which Light admired throughout their journey across Cocoon and Pulse, even if she never said it aloud.

 The audience cheered, the vendors began selling their wares along the aisles, and Light’s first American baseball game was in motion.

* * *

 

 The final stretch of the game, and everyone was hushed, including Lightning herself. Despite the rather long time period spent watching men hit balls with bats and run around a green field, she was intrigued. Apparently, this was the last inning of the game, and the final pitch, which was extremely important for the New York Yankees, as Anna explained.

 “It’s very intense,” she explained with patience.

 Snow was at home base, poised with the bat over his shoulder and knees bent, cap twisted backwards. His uniform, by this point, was caked and mudded with a rich brown dust and smeared with a bright green due to the amount of times he had dived for the ball and slid for a base. His eyes were trained on the pitcher before him, who was brainstorming a way to catch the blond of guard with this final pitch. The Yankees only needed one more home run to win; the cities were tied.

 The pitcher brought his hand back, raised a leg, and chucked the ball with such brute and force that Light was temporarily taken aback by his aggressiveness. Snow made haste in bringing the metal bat back, waiting for the perfect moment to strike the white bullet heading his direction. With a few seconds to spare a possible black eye, the bat was brought towards the ball with a newfound strength and pierced the bullet, sending it back towards the field.

 Players rushed and darted towards the ball, which was heading towards the other end of the field, and reached their arms upwards to grab it, however, the white bullet had other plans and barely grazed the tips of their gloves, instead landing in the audience behind them.

  _“Ladies and gentlemen, that’s a homerun! The New York Yankees have won the American Championship!”_

 Anna instantly shot out of her seat, cheering furiously and whistling, along with the entire rest of the stadium. The player on the field threw their caps on the ground; Snow’s teammates piled on top of him, waving their caps in the air as they whooped and hollered. Light blinked in surprise, but let a small smile onto her face. Leave it to Snow to win a Championship.

 A pair of men brought out a large, shiny trophy, a large golden orb sitting at the top for all to see. Snow gladly grabbed it from them, bringing his lips to the object before raising it into the air, a large grin on his face as he laughed gleefully. His teammates continued to jump and whoop; Lightning stood up next to Anna. “Is that a trophy for the game?”

 “Yup! It’s a beauty, isn’t it?” She gushed, overjoyed for her city.

 Light nodded faintly. She remembered Serah saying that was how he looked when she agreed to marry him.

 After a long while, the crowd eventually began to trickle out of the stadium, the Houston Astros having left a long time ago. Everyone seemed contempt with the outcome of the evening, all except Lightning. She was waiting for her chance to speak with Snow, but his team was barely beginning to pack up their belongings on the field. The blonde besides her nudged her shoulder, apparently tired of checking the touch-screen device in her hand, “Lightning, are you still going to try to talk to him?”

 She bit her lip, not very sure anymore. Shaking her hesitation and doubts away, she angrily thought to herself, _No! I have to at least get his attention, somehow!_

 If there was one thing the soldier was good at, it was getting attention from people.

 Without a second thought, she bolted out of her seat, making her way down the aisle steps and leaped over the fence that boxed the field in, her feet landing harshly on the dusty ground. People left in the audience gasped, some pointed, while Anna was left dumfounded. Shaking her shock away, she darted from her seat and stayed at the fence, shouting out towards the soldier, “Lightning, wait! That’s not what I meant by talk to him!”

 Ignoring the call, she soon made her way to the team, who was just as surprised as the audience. Panting lightly, Light ignored their stares and protests as she finally reached the blond she was looking for. He turned around just in time to see her running at him, and she grabbed his shoulders roughly, “Snow, we need to talk!”

 To say he was surprised would be an understatement. “E-Excuse me? Look, I know you’re a fan and all, but-”

 “Stop with the jokes, Villiers! We need to find Serah!” her eyes narrowed, not appreciating his confusion. She could hear rushing footsteps behind her, plus the high-pitched sounds of whistles being blown. Lightning knew she had to make this fast before she got in trouble with whatever authority was around here.

 “I've never seen you before in my life!”

 “What?” Lightning felt her arms go slightly limp, her grip on his uniform loosening. Outside, she seemed shocked. Inside, her mind was reeling, an icy feeling pricking at her skin. It reminded her of how she felt when she found out she was an only child, except this was different. How could Snow not recognize her? After everything they've been through - she gave them him her blessing! “Stop fucking around, it’s me, Lightning! We need to find everyone and get Ser-”

 “You there! Step away from him!” A rough voice called behind her before two arms yanked her away from him, but she kept struggling against their grasps. Her legs kicked, her arms wiggled, and she kept calling out to him, trying to get him to remember.

 Anna had already made her way down onto the field at this point, rushing towards the two men who had dragged her away. The soldier ignored her; her attention was focused on getting out of their grasp and back to Snow to knock some sense into his thick skull. “Snow! It’s me, remember me! We fought against the Sanctum! You’re engaged to Serah! I’m your _sister!”_

 He could only blink and stand on the other side of the field, completely at a loss for words and actions as the referee and police guard dragged her away, Anna right behind them.


	4. One Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is more of a filler chapter (￣。￣) but hope you enjoy anyway!  
> [I do not own the Final Fantasy XIII storyline/plot nor any of the characters]

 “We’re really, _really_ sorry about this, again,” Anna, whom up until this point had been fuming over the little stunt Lightning pulled, clasped her hands together in an attempt to sway the police officer’s mood. Said officer only looked towards the woman with an exasperated and weary look, and something told the blonde that this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. “It will never happen again, sir - I mean, after all, she’s banned from the park...” her voice trailed off.

 Shaking his head, the brunette only closed his notepad which held several notes from his interrogation with Lightning, Snow and Anna, replying, “Ma’am, as long as she doesn’t come within thirty feet of the park, you two are off the hook. Just make sure you get her to a doctor,”

 Inwardly, Anna winced. “Yes, sir. Thank you, again, and we’re sorry.”

 “Hey, it’s baseball, ma’am. People tend to go a little overboard.” With those amusing words and a half-smile, the police officer left the stadium with his squadron, their cars whizzing back to the police station and out of sight.

 In the lobby where she and Lightning were, the rose-haired woman sulked and fumed on her own silently and expertly in one of the many chairs set up by the front desk of the lobby. Towards the back of the comfortable lobby was another room, where Snow was currently chatting with his manager about the incident. Hopefully, Light thought, he’ll let this go and go along with helping her. She had a hard time believing he didn’t remember her - something about the way he looked at her when she abruptly came up to him told her so.

 “Claire, you can _not_ go around grabbing people’s attentions like that,” Anna sighed finally, plopping down in one of the chairs next to Lightning. The soldier made no sound nor any motion, simply focused on trying to burn a hole through the wall in front of her with her intense glare. “You’ll get arrested for real, next time.”

 Scoffing slightly, the young woman uncrossed her arms and stood, finally, beginning to pace slowly. “I couldn’t just wait and let the opportunity pass me by.”

 “No, but you could have found a better time to get his attention and talk to him,”

 “When would there have been time? He’s famous, right? He would have never gotten the time!”

 The dirty blonde simply slumped in her chair and rested her forehead in the palm of her hand.

 After what seemed to be ten minutes filled with pacing and huffing, the back door to the other office behind the lobby desk was opened, both Snow and his manager stepping outside and into the lobby to face the two women. At the sight of the two, Anna quickly stood from her slumped position on the chair and took a few steps towards the gentlemen, beginning to apologize for Light’s behavior towards the baseball star.

 His manager, a short but stocky man who looked to be around his mid-thirties, stopped her before she got too deep into the apology. With a kind smile, he said, “It’s alright, Mrs. Farron. She didn’t cause any injuries towards Mr. Villiers, so there’s no need to worry.”

 Lightning stood behind Anna, arms crossed over her chest once more. Her pale eyes found their way to Snow’s, who looked to be pretty laid-back about this whole situation, and formed a glare. In the midst of her guardian and his manager speaking, she spoke up in his direction. “Snow.”

 Blinking, the blond brightened and flashed a grin. "Hey— Lightning, right? Nice to meet ya!"

 _Leave it to an idiot like Snow to overlook an assault_ , Lightning inwardly deadpanned, rolling her eyes. "We've m— Nice to meet you, too...Anyway, we need to talk."

 "Listen, you don't need to apologize, this kind of stuff happens all the time,"

 "That's not what— wait, seriously?" She blinked in surprise but soon shook it off, getting back to business. "Not important. I need you to help me."

 Honestly, Lightning wasn't very sure he would help her so willingly anymore, after her little "episode" out on the field. But, at this point, it was worth a shot, she figured.

 Snow rubbed the back of his neck, a hand on his hip casually. "Help you?"

 Crossing her arms over her chest once more, the soldier stood a bit straighter. "Find my sister, Serah."

 "Um, your sister? Listen, I'm not—”

 “You’re her fiancé.”  

 There was a silence between them, not exactly pregnant nor awkward, but more surprised. Of course Snow would be shocked to discover he was practically a married man; his life now was possibly that of a bachelor, Light suspected. Before he knew Serah, he was a very easy-going and free-spirited guy, never really looking to get tied down or dedicate his life to anything else besides his NORA gang, she idly remembered Serah telling her. Even so, that all changed once he met the younger Farron one afternoon during the summer. Lightning, of course, doubted it was true love or anything serious such as that nonsense, but through the trials each of them had been through while facing the fal’cie, the rose-haired woman came to see just how much he truly cared for her sister, even going so far as to risk his life several times against the army.

 And, each time, he was too stubborn to die.

 The taller man coughed into his fist, crossing his arms over his chest, obviously taken aback by her straightforward information. “F-Fiancé? Look, Lightning, I’m not so sure you've got the right guy here...”

 With an irritated sigh, the shorter woman pinched the bridge of her nose to control the urge to deliver a punch to his shoulder or, even better, his jaw. But, remembering her own self-promise to not hurt the idiot as much anymore, she kept the urge in check. “You _are_ the right guy, Snow, why won’t you believe me? I know it’s kind of sudden, but this isn’t your life, this is somebody else’s! You’re part of a rookie watch group who calls themselves ‘NORA’, we teamed up against the Sanctum fal’cie and won, you almost _died!”_

 “Sis, seriously—” The blond stopped mid-sentence, and Light’s eyes widened in surprise.

 He _did_ remember her, after all!

 "You _do_ know me, idiot!" Light almost grabbed Snow's shoulders again, instead uncrossing her arms and settling them at her hips instead. An almost smug look came across her features.

 The taller blond shook his head, shaken up a bit over the little slip-up, "That's...hrm. But I don't know you, I've never seen you in my life, yet..."

 Something clicked in Lightning's head at that moment. "Snow, help me, and you'll gradually start remembering who you really are. And I know it's crazy and it sounds really stupid, but you need to trust me when I say that I am your sister— er, in-law."

 Anna and Snow's manager had stopped talking a few moments ago to listen in on heat the two were discussing, and seemed to jump in at the right time. The dirty blonde spoke up softly, "Mr. Villiers, I know it sounds unbelievable, but I believe my daughter, even if she doesn't acknowledge me as her mother."

 The young woman glanced towards Anna, a twinge if guilt in her chest. Lightning wouldn't exactly say she didn't acknowledge her as a mother, just...she wasn't her own mother. No one will replace her own mother, and Serah can attest to that; Anna was different from their mother in so many ways. However, it was conflicting for the soldier to often look to Anna for comfort, such as earlier this evening. Practically spilling her whole life story, and so willingly, she knew there had to be a reason for that. She couldn't quite put her finger on her feelings towards this woman.

 Snow's manager cleared his throat, his business attitude returning. "Mrs. Farron, I apologize, but we can't afford to simply drop everything for the sake of _one_ girl—"

 "I'll do it."

 All three of them turned towards the blond, eyebrows raised. Lightning half-smiled, Anna sighed in relief, and his manager, well, looked beyond confused and appalled.

 "Snow, you can't be serious!"

 "I am, Ryan," he answered matter-o-factly, grinning towards the shorter man. Walking  towards the lobby door, he pushed it open and let the cool night air rush into the warm lobby, "Besides, season's over, and we won already. I think I can squeeze in some time to help my sis."

 Lightning couldn't help but glance towards his manager, Ryan, with pride before heading out of the lobby with Snow and Anna in tow.

_One down, five to go._

* * *

 

 “So, Light, got any idea where to find the rest of the gang?” Snow asked, once they returned to Anna’s apartment and got themselves busy with trying to track down the rest of the group. So far, it seemed like Snow was onboard with the idea, but Lightning had her doubts. Was he faking it to amuse her? Possibly, yet there was also the fact that he called her “sis” out of the blue back at the stadium. She had a hunch that if he continued talking to her, his memory will gradually come back to him, and soon he’d be his old self again. If they could track down the rest of their friends, their memories would come back much faster.

 “Not a clue, to be honest...it was pure luck to find you,” _Thank Lady Luck_ , the rose-haired woman thought to herself with a small smile. Flipping a page in a large, yellow book that Anna had given to her, her blue eyes scanned the page with intensity, looking out for any of their friends’ names. Anna was pretty tired from today’s “drama”, as she put it, and went off to bed a bit earlier. Currently, it was just Snow and Lightning in the large living room, two large windows acting as doors leading to the small patio outside on a balcony. The former baseball player had a few of his belongings delivered to the apartment, obviously wanting to be prepared for a roadtrip or flight. “It doesn’t really matter what order we find them in, as long as we find them, and fast.”

 The blond nodded, eyes going back to the small machine he had on his lap. He said it was called a “laptop”, and it had access to millions and millions of information for anyone to use. On Cocoon, things were obviously different in terms of technology— there were hovercars, flying airships, holographic panels used to record anything you needed at any time, and smaller, thinner cellular devices, lacking screens. Here, things seemed to be barely moving along; the cars were still limited to the ground and the phones had large screens. “Well, gimme a name, let’s see if Google can find ‘em for us.”

 Lightning wasn’t very sure of who this “Google” was or how it would be able to find anyone, but she decided it was worth a shot. “Hope Estheim.”

 After watching him type the name rather quickly, she waited. His cerulean eyes scanned across the screen, a hand on his chin in thought. He said, without looking away from the screen, “‘Director Hope Estheim, a leader of one of the most successful oil companies known as ‘Academia Oil’.’ Kid must be loaded!”

 “A director? He’s only sixteen,” Lightning stood from her spot on the couch, walking over to look over Snow’s shoulder at the screen. “How can he...”

 The image of said “sixteen year old” suddenly came up on the screen, and the woman found her eyes widening, along with her lips parting in a small gasp.

_“Hope?”_


	5. Guten Tag, Direktor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [I do not own the Final Fantasy XIII storyline/plot nor any of the characters]

_“Germany?”_

 The duo inwardly winced. Anna’s echo was clearly a bad sign. And, it was predicted that she would be upset or shocked about the location of Hope. After all, after being shown a map of the world by from Snow, Lightning had to blink her surprise a few times as well— the area that Hope was located was across a giant ocean, miles away from their location. Of course, Snow explained that they could hitch a plane and simply fly there, what with his endless amount of money that seemed to flow out of his pockets. Of course, any type of travel was alright with Lightning, as long as they weren't actually swimming across the ocean to reach Hope. She had walked across the majority of Gran Pulse and walked everywhere in Cocoon, so she didn't mind any type of walking or running needed, however, swimming was a different matter. The two, of course, needed the "permission" from Anna to go out and recruit their much needed partner, as much as Lightning wanted to just get the trip over with and find him.

 "And there isn't— he's not—" The woman pinched the bridge of her nose, sighing audibly. Light rubbed the back of her neck, the other hand settling in the pocket of her sweatpants. Anna obviously wasn't excited about the idea, nor did she seem to be able to even travel with them. _"Germany?"_

 "It's the only place where we'll find him, Anna," the rose-haired woman replied, nodding slightly towards Snow's laptop which was set on the kitchen table next to a mug of coffee.

 "The main office is somewhere in Berlin," The blond piped up from the kitchen table, running a hand through his messy locks. It wasn't weird seeing him like this, Lightning figured— he's stayed over with Serah many times before, so the image of him still sleepy wasn't foreign. Still, she couldn't help but crack a smile at his bed head. "The kid should be there."

 The elder woman gave an exasperated look towards the two, slumping down in the chair across from Snow. Holding her head in her hands, she mumbled out, "How much will the plane tickets cost? A fortune?"

 "Uh, excuse me," Snow rolled his eyes in a joking manner, leaning forward in his seat, "World famous baseball player here, I have the money to get us there and back twelve times. Leave it to me."

 "Snow, I don't think it can possibly ask this of you—"

 "Anna, seriously, it's no big deal. I trust you guys, you two are sincere. And," he turned to Lightning then, who had up until recently been preparing herself a cup of hot coffee, "I think I'm starting to get some memories or somethin'. They're kinda fuzzy still, but they're there."

 Her hand continued stirring the liquid as she asked, "What can you remember?"

 He pursed his lips in thought. "Um...I can't really tell. Maybe a few faces?"

 It wasn't the best information, however it was enough for Light. Nodding, she confirmed her theory of returning memories and returned to the table, coffee in hand. The more time he spent helping her find the others, the easier it would be for their memories to come back. Perhaps the others didn’t remember their adventures as well, something Light was afraid of. The question rang in her mind, keeping her awake most of the night: why did Snow not remember her? Not just her, everything she explained to him? It didn’t add up to the soldier, first she woke up in a new world with a person calling herself her mom, then her friends couldn’t remember who they really were? It didn’t make sense. The thought of Serah thinking she’s an only child, or if she has other siblings—

 Her heart clenched. The possibility hurt too much to even think about.

 Nonetheless, the soldier knew she had to find the rest of her friends, simply because they needed to find out who they really were. She didn't expect their memories to be mixed with someone else's, but Lightning knew they would eventually come around and turn to their old selves. She was a bit curious to see how they would differ from their original selves— Snow wasn't any different, so it was possible that the others wouldn't be different either. Either way, now that she had Snow to help her, Light wanted to find the others quickly.

 Anna sighed from her seat next to Lightning, lifting her head up to face the two. "I guess if you guys are careful...and _don't_ try anything funny," she have a pointed glance towards Snow, "You have my permission, Light."

 The rose-haired woman scrunched her nose up slightly at the suggestion that she and Snow would ever— oh, gross. "Don't worry, Anna. We'll be careful, and besides, I've got military training myself. I know how to defend myself and Snow."

 To be honest, Lightning was a bit surprised at having to receive permission from Anna to leave the household on her own. It was familiar use to her own mother being protective like this, yet it wasn't normal. Light was used to doing her own thing and worrying about Serah, not the other way around. There wasn't anyone left to look after Lightning but herself, and having a motherly figure stand by and protect her caused a warm feeling to overtake her chest.

 With a nod towards the dirty blonde, she and Snow decided to start packing their bags— who knew how long it would take to convince Hope to tag along with them? One could only hope things went smoothly and not as chaotic as it did for Snow's confrontation.

* * *

 

 "So, this isn't an airship?"

 "No, it's a plane, dude."

 "You don't have airships here?"

 "Er...well, define 'airship',"

 "A ship that can fire bullets and runs on multiple turbines and engines, used mainly for war and the pursuing of—"

 "Yeah, no, we don't," The blond interrupted, flipping through a magazine absentmindedly. "At least, not for traveling. Those are used in wars, though."

 Lightning nodded, blinking. An airship was indeed smaller than this wide, long plane they were currently on, with less seats and no waitresses tending to your needs. You drove your own airship, there wasn't just one pilot doing all of the work while everyone else just sat back and enjoyed their snacks and drinks. The one thing in common was that there were small screens set up for the passengers to enjoy a movie, but even then on Cocoon the screens were used for new reports or status updates.

 They had changed into civilian clothes, or what seemed to be civilian to Lightning, Snow obviously knew the fashion taste of this world. He did wear a black bandana, which she was used to seeing, and actually a bit grateful to see, because it made her feel more at ease seeing him as he usually was. She had picked out a few articles of clothing to pack for the trip, some of which were picked by Anna. She appreciated the help, honestly, but why did her fashion sense have to be so _girly?_ Heels, mini-skirts, make-up— everything Serah would usually wear.

 And don't even bring up the fact that Anna had never seen Claire's navel piercing until now.

 Now settled on a plane to Berlin, Germany, Light and Snow took this time to catch up. While she wasn't very used to his new lifestyle, he did explain things pretty well to her, as did she. Both exchanged stories of their lives, people they've met, things they've done in the past, and overall, it was a comforting experience for the soldier. She never guessed that this was what it felt like to have a brother— a little brother, at that. It was, well, _nice_ to have someone to talk to. Back on Cocoon, their relationship had improved due to Serah making sure they (or, rather, _Lightning_ )  didn’t fight or argue too often, which resulted in a neutral relationship between the two. After giving him a chance, she discovered that he was more than capable of taking care of her little sister, something she regrets ever doubting.

More often than not, they would cause some sort of trouble, usually _pranking_ , for the others— Serah wasn’t so happy she made the two get along after that.

 After being told that the flight would take more than a few hours, Light decided to get some shut-eye, what with her thoughts keeping her from sleeping the night before. Settling into her seat and getting a bit more comfortable, her eyes drooped closed and the soldier found herself asleep.

* * *

 

  _“This_ is the place?” Snow asked in slight disbelief, staring in awe at the large building before them— along with the chain of buildings behind the main one. It was a full-on operation, the large, sleek logo staring them back hung on the front of the building, and people bustled in and out of the revolving doors. Hope didn’t joke around, Light supposed, when it came to businesses. “It looks pretty serious, Light.”

 “No kidding...” she blinked, her hands clenching into nervous fists at her sides. She wasn’t about to let some big, official-looking building intimidate her, so with her head held high, she started walking towards the building, watching for traffic across the street. Lightning was here to get her friend, and dammit, she will.

 As the two stepped into the lobby, furniture as sleek and modernized as the building itself, several people noticed them and gave them confused stares. Yes, their attire wasn’t the most business-like or professional, however, they weren’t here on that kind of business. Ignoring the stares, she went straight for the lobby desk, where a cheery blonde sat behind a desktop computer, typing away furiously. Having not noticed them, the rose-haired woman spoke up, “Excuse me?”

 Tearing her eyes away from the screen, the blonde gave a smile towards the duo and quickly gave them her attention, “Hello! I’m sorry, I was busying myself with some work—  how can I help you? Do you have an appointment?”

  _Crap._ “Er, we don’t have an appointment, but we need to speak to your director, Hope Estheim. It’s urgent,” Hopefully, the seriousness in her eyes would give away just how serious she was about seeing him. Of course they didn’t have an appointment, as if they would get scheduled one in the first place. Why would a college student and a baseball player need to see an owner of an oil company?

 “Well...” the young woman bit her lip, turning to her computer screen to type a few keys, her eyes sweeping across the screen. “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of spots taken, so I’m pretty sure I can squeeze you two in.”

 “Thank you.” she inwardly let out a sigh of relief, thanking the goddess that there was an open spot. The blonde told them to have a seat in the lobby and to wait for their appointment time after they gave their names.

 “Just our luck, huh?” Snow asked with a grin, plopping down in a loveseat next to Lightning.

 Again, she was reminded of Fang, and she gave a small smile in response to his question. After Hope, they needed to find Fang, and possibly with Fang, they’d find Vanille. Those two were inseparable, but there was a chance that they wouldn’t know each other at all just like Snow and Serah. It would be weird for them to meet each other all over again, especially if Serah thinks she has another family other than Lightning. How will she explain that Serah was actually her sister? Would she even believe it, or will she brush it off and ignore her? It scared the soldier to no end thinking of all the possible scenarios between herself and Serah.

 A nudge to her shoulder brought her back to reality. “Hey, you okay?”

 Lightning nodded, rubbing her temple with a hand. “Yeah, I’m just...thinking. Worrying.”

 “Sis, seriously, you need to stop worrying. I believed you, so the others have to, too!”

 “Not everyone goes with the flow like you, Snow,” she sighed, letting out a huff of air in amusement. It was wishful thinking, she had to admit. “But I’m hoping they do.”

 “Miss Farron and Mr. Villiers?” The same blonde woman called from the lobby desk, their heads snapping in her direction. “The director will see you, now.”

 Both exchanged a glance, rising from their seats and following the woman’s directions to Hope’s office. Butterflies beat against Light’s chest; after seeing the picture of Hope, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to see him the same anymore. He wasn’t a little kid, he was...grown-up. It was like she felt unneeded, as if all that time she spent training him and pushing him to get better was lost. He grew up on his own, with no help from the others or herself.

 The minute they stepped through the door to his office, her butterflies grew more erratic. His back was turned, but Lightning could tell that the silver-haired teen wasn’t a teen anymore, he towered a good five inches over her, now. His hair grew out a bit more towards the back, but he still retained the cowlick from when she last saw him, and his shoulders were more broad and built. Even with his suit on, she could tell he wasn’t as scrawny as he used to be.

 He shuffled some papers on his desk before turning to face them, a look of slight surprise on his face. Of course, she understood, their appearances were a bit...interesting.

 Hope spoke in a language foreign to her, and Snow proved to be of no help, for all he could do was shrug in her direction, saying, “I don’t know German, I took Spanish in high school!”

 “Oh, you’re American,” Hope said in a language Lightning could understand, blinking his soft green eyes. “My apologies, I don’t usually get visitors from America. How can I help you? You don’t look like you’re here to buy out my business.”

 He still seemed like the old Hope, Light figured as she began speaking. “Er, Mr. Estheim, my name is Lightning Farron, and this is my—” a pointed glance, “—brother, Snow Villiers. We’re not here to talk about your oil company or stocks or such, we’re here on different matters.”

 The man— it was weird calling him a “man” now— gave a look of curiosity as he leaned against his desk. “Do tell.”

 Taking a deep breath, Lightning attempted to explain the situation to the best of her ability, seeing as her people skills weren’t the best. She chose to leave out the parts about their past, only mentioning that she knew him and he knew her, he just didn’t remember it yet. Snow added his own thoughts as well, trying to help his sis out; the look of disbelief on Hope’s face wasn’t very comforting. His expression had melted from understanding (or, at least, _attempting_ ) to complete disbelief and there was also a bit of a deadpan in his eyes— as if this tale as far too stretched out. Lightning knew it was going to take some time to get him to actually believe this and go with them, however, she needed something to get him to believe it now. And it wasn’t as if there was something to jog his memory with, like with Snow, who had called her “sis”. The only thing that possibly could have sparked something was her survival knife, and who knows where that was right now.

 “You seriously can’t expect me to believe that,” Hope said exasperatedly, and both could understand his slight irritation. Lightning didn’t _want_ it to be true; Cocoon was hell in the sky.

 “Honestly, I don’t expect you to believe it,” Light replied truthfully, taking a step towards the man. “But— you _have_ to, this _isn’t_ where you belong— you’re not even this age, you’re sixteen back home! And about a foot shorter!”

 Her pale eyes caught sight of something then, something peeking out from one of the boxes stacked in the back corner of  his organized office. It’s handle was peeking out from the top of the box, and Lightning wasted no time in walking towards it, despite the protests from Hope of poking around in his personal belongings. She pulled out what looked to be an old survival knife— _her_ survival knife, still shiny and clean as if it hasn’t been used since it had been received. Blinking her eyes, she turned to face the two again, eyes on the knife in her hands. “Where did you get this?”

 “Hey, isn’t that...” Snow scrunched his face up slightly, as if trying hard to remember the memory that threatened to flood his mind. “Your knife from...from—”

 “Serah, yes,” The rose-haired woman faced Hope, “Where did you get it?”

 “It’s been with me since I could remember. I could never open it, though.” The silver-haired man replied honestly, crossing his arms over his chest in slight thought. “How is it yours?”

 There had been a trick to opening it, Lightning remembered at that moment, something that she had shown Hope when she lent it to him during the Cocoon event. Flicking her wrist quickly, the blade snapped open and the silver blade shined in the light, gleaming brightly. Giving a deadpanned look towards a surprised Hope, she simply replied, “It’s mine, I would know how to open it.”

 “You know I never got enough practice with that thing—” His sentence stopped abruptly, a hand coming up to cover his mouth in surprise.

 Due to his little outburst, Light and Snow both inwardly cheered, but kept their cool as they exchanged glances. Two down,

 “He remembers.”

 

 


	6. Quality Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [I do not own the Final Fantasy XIII storyline/plot nor any of the characters]

Hope did show signs of remembering his true past and companions, however his professional side won in the end. He refused to actually go along with the pair, arguing that they were surely out of their minds if they thought he would easily go with them on their mission to retrieve a group of people. No ifs, ands or buts on this matter.

So, Lightning did what she did best in any situation - she thoroughly punched his lights out.

Snow was threatened to not say a peep; and as if he would, for he helped her drag Hope from his office and out one of the fire exits placed at the bottom floor of the building (He also laughed in amazement once she managed to knock him out with one blow, declaring to never get on her bad side) Light was sure they looked like oddballs, a man giving a piggyback ride to a knocked out director worth more than both of them combined. Of course, another thing Lightning was good at was ignoring people’s opinions and looks of suspicion as they weaved their way across the street and back to their hotel, promptly locking the door shut once they reached their sanctuary.

“When he wakes up, he’s sure to call the cops or something,” Snow said as he plopped down on one of the two beds in the spacious hotel room, pulling off his bandana and running a hand through his blond locks. Hope lay on the bed next to his, face down and possibly still breathing. “Was that really such a great idea?”

“Did you have anything better in mind?” The woman sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She knew he was right, as much as it pained her to admit. Seeing as how adult and mature Hope had ended up becoming, he was obviously going to dial the authorities and get them arrested. There was nothing they could do except try to convince him otherwise, if that was possible. The silver-haired man seemed just as stubborn as when he was a teen, and while it comforted her slightly, knowing that he hadn’t changed that much, it was still an issue they had to tackle. “We need him.”

“You mean _you_ need him; I barely know the kid. My memories are still fuzzy.” He raised an eyebrow in her direction subtly. Light shook her head and ignored the emphasis he put on the words “you” and “him”. This was not just a problem for her, it involved all of them, even if they didn’t know it yet. Soon they would be together, she kept reminding herself, and soon they’d find Serah and find a way back home.

“Not just me, Snow, all of you guys. Hope, Fang, Vanille, Sazh— we need to find Serah. And to do that, we need everyone together.” _We did it once, we can do it again,_ the woman wanted to add, but the words died on her tongue.

The blond flopped back on the bed, “Well, wake me up when the kid comes to.” With that, he quickly dozed off, muttering something about baseball.

The soldier sighed, sitting down on the bed where Hope lay face down and unconscious. Refusing to fall victim to sleep like her companions, she instead tried to distract herself with the pile of magazines that had made their way from the coffee table in front of the television set to the bedside table next to her, possibly by Snow. Of course, her guess was confirmed when the first magazine she flipped through was a sports magazine - and a special edition on baseball, for that matter. Shaking her head in amusement she tossed it to the side, now flipping through a girly magazine, full of makeup tips, latest fashion styles, celebrity gossip and cheap finds. _Something Serah would probably like,_ Light mused, absentmindedly turning the thin pages and barely paying attention to the eyeshadow tricks that were being showcased in an article. _I wonder if she would use this -_

Her thoughts came to a screeching halt when her eyes swept across the next page, meeting a pair of bright green eyes and a bubbly smile, bright red hair tied back into two curly ponytails— Vanille!

A smile spread across the woman’s features as she gripped the magazine tighter, scanning the information box next to the posing teen. She was currently a fashion model in an area called Australia, part of a successful modeling agency and living a lavish life. The next few pages featured an interview with the teen, speaking of how she came to be a model and how she hopes she can get farther into the business and reach even more fame— all while donating half of her funds to a local animal shelter in Australia. Lightning had to roll her eyes at that information; Vanille had always cared for animals, even the monsters they had to slay during their adventure as l’cie.

Just as the rose-haired woman finished the article, the unconscious lump besides her began to stir, groaning and rubbing his head. Perhaps she had hit him too hard after all... Lightning extended a cautious hand as he sat up, wincing in pain and rubbing his jaw as she lightly touched his shoulder, “Take it easy, you got hit pretty hard.”

“By- By what? A truck?” he asked in response, obviously still agitated. He stopped rubbing his jaw and suddenly became aware of his surroundings, bolting from the fluffy bed. “And what-what am I doing here?”

“You—” She bit her lip, trying to come up with something to say to him. If there was another thing the Farrons were good at, it was thinking on their feet. “agreed to come with us, but sort of... tripped down the stairs as we were leaving your office.”

“I did?” Hope blinked before glancing at the sleeping log in the bed next to Lightning. "I just remember turning you guys down..."

"Anyways, Hope," Lightning quickly changed the subject, "I've located our next destination— somewhere called Australia. We should leave within the next few days."

He sat on the bed again, rubbing his temples and sighing, "Australia? I've been there once, when I was younger... How will we get there?"

The rose-haired woman nodded towards a now curled up Snow, "He's got it covered," her pale eyes swept over his stressed form, still a bit taken aback by his new age and appearance, "Hope, how old are you?"

The man in question raised an eyebrow in her direction before answering truthfully, "Twenty-seven. Why?"

She mentally cursed; depsite how childish it may seem, Lightning liked being older than him back on Cocoon. It felt nice to have a younger charge admiring you, but now the tables have turned and she seemed like the baby of their friendship. It was odd, to say the least. "...No reason."

Hope stretched his arms upwards, the bones making a small popping noise. It looked as if his stress gone, as he turned to Lightning and asked, "So, Lightning, why are you doing this? Gathering all of these people, I mean."

"To find my sister," Light explained, absentmindedly fidgeting with the zippers on her cargo pants that she had fished from Claire's closet again. "I told you back in your office, hadn't I?"

"Well, yes, but I'm still curious," he tried a smile, which, of course, worked on the woman. "As to why I don't remember any of this."

"I have a theory," she nodded, "That you'll regain your true memories the more you spend time with us. That explains your reaction to me opening the survival knife."

"Makes...sense." Of course, Lightnig hadn't expected him to truly believe her. But so far, her theory had been proven right by Snow; he had been calling her "sis" more frequently now. It was only matter of time until he remembered Serah and the others, and when he did, Light was sure he was going to revert back to his old self. She also had a strong feeling that he was sure to fall head over heels in love with Serah all over again— something she both hoped for yet dreaded. It would bethe puppy love look and constant fawning over her once more, like when they first met on Cocoon. It wasn't unusual to have to drive the blond from their home in the past, especially when Lightning wasn't there.

"It'll make sense, trust me. Ask me anything, if you're that curious." She rested on the palms of her hands as she leaned back on the fluffy bed.

"Okay, then," Hope stood from the bed, beginning to pace slowly. She briefly remembered him doing so during their adventure as l'cie, when he became nervous or anxious about something. "I'm still Hope Estheim...right?"

The soldier nodded, a half smile gracing her features. "I would hope so. If not, we kidnapped the wrong person."

"Kidnapped?"

"Ah— next question." He chuckled slightly, crossing her arms over his chest, "Alright, alright. Is your name really 'Lightning'?"

"Why? Too generic?" She raised an eyebrow and shot him a half hearted glare, which he answered with as nervous chuckle, avoiding her eyes. "I'll tell you some other time. But— call me Light."

"Alright then, Light, exactly what do I have to do with all of this again?"

The rose-haired woman crossed her arms over her chest, sighing lightly, "Like I said before, you were part of our group that helped saved my sister, and our home. We're heroes back home. I didn't want to just up and leave to find my sister without first finding my friends— granted, I didn't think they'd lose their memories..." She mumbled the last bit to herself, still a bit confused and upset as to why that happened. She hadn't lost her own memories, so why did everyone else lose theirs, too?

Hope pursed his lips slightly in thought, but you easily could have. I mean, don't you have parents? Aren't they more important than a bunch of strangers?"

Lightning hesitated, if only for a brief second, "Serah is my only family. Yeah, when I woke up in this world, I had a mother, but she wasn't-wasn't..." Her voice trailed off, and the soldier inwardly cursed for not being able to say it. Yes, her parents were dead. She had no problem saying it to herself in her head, but when she told Anna and now telling Hope, it was as if her throat was closing up and her lungs were shriveling. Even back on Cocoon it was hard telling a younger Hope of her parents' passing, leaving only Serah and herself to fend for themselves. Light could ony imagine what it must have been like for Hope to lose his own mother right in front if him, having depended on her so heavily.

She felt a sudden weight on the bed next to her, and she looked up to see Hope giving a sympathetic smile, which looked unusual on his pale features; the only emotions Light has seen on his face were those of fear and confusion, very rarely would he smile or laugh while on their adventures as l'cie. "I-I'm sorry if I struck a nerve," he started, suddenly nervous, "I lost my mother a few years back as well, so I kind of understand." And with a deep breath and genuine smile— not the kind that seemed to be childish and unsure, but an actual, real Hope Estheim smile— he added, "I'll go with you."

One of the strangest things that have happened in Lightning's twenty-two year old life happened next.

She blushed.


	7. Spark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay!  
> [I do not own the Final Fantasy XIII storyline/plot nor any of the characters]

 Lightning didn't know what was worse at this point in her life.

 The fact that she had to room with Snow, or the the endless amount of bickering between Hope and Snow.

 And, it wasn't even bickering, it was more of Hope criticizing Snow's antics and the blond simply replying with a roll of his eyes and an insult under his breath. Of course, she knew they didn't like each other at first while l'cie, however she didn't expect them to be so rocky. Not even three hours into the evening and she could not sleep over their not getting along— and it wasn't as if it were her fault they shared one of the beds in the hotel room, both men agreed to let Light have her own bed and they share one.

 Which didn't seem to be working out very well towards the beginning. The constant angry whispers and sounds of Snow being pushed off the bed kept the woman up with the sheets over head trying to drown out the noise, but eventually the sounds died down once both men were sound asleep and as far from each other as possible on opposite sides of the bed they shared. Finally, Light was able to slip into a dreamless sleep, one she had been looking forward to; she didn't need a nightmare or crazy scenario in her head that night.

 Snow, however...

 The minute he drifted off into a comfortable sleep, his mind was assaulted with different images and memories, each bringing a surge of emotion along with it. Beasts he's never seen before roaming a great plain below a hanging sphere in the sky, brightly colored soldiers attacking people in an all-out war, airships being flown hazardly through the air, a knife coming at him by the hand of a young boy, the most dazzling fireworks he's ever seen being set off on a starry night—

 A crystal stone in the shape of a tear glistening and reflecting a bright spectrum of colors, held in— was that his hand? Yes, _yes,_ it _was_ , he remembered now, it was a crystal year that belonged to _her..._

 Lightning held the tear, now, tossing it into the air, knowing he would catch it in time. In the grassy field they were in, she spoke, yet he couldn't make out any phrases. It was just a mishmash of different words, but the ones he did happen to understand clearly were, "Cocoon", "Hero", and the name "Serah". Lightning's sister, he recalled now, the reason she set off to find him and the rest of their friends, his fiancée, yet he could not remember what she looked like, nor her personality itself. It was as if there was a block in the way of those memories, as if a key was needed to access that area of his memories.

 How he desperately wanted to unlock that part of his mind and let the memories flow through, now that he's seen everything else, Snow felt that this was the missing piece in the puzzle— if it was completed, he knew things would be different, _he'd_ be different, he felt and knew it. And he didn't mind it. It was as if it was supposed to be, he wasn't a baseball player, he was Snow Villiers, hero of their home, Cocoon.

 __

 That morning, Light noticed how groggy Snow seemed once he, quite literally, rolled out of bed. Hope had "accidentally" knocked him off one he woke up, leaving the warm sheets in favor of a warm shower. The soldier herself was looking forward to a hot shower, but when she crawled out of her own bed and stood on the carpeted ground, her blue eyes met a grumbling blond on the floor.

 "Rough night?" She asked in a slightly amused tone.

 "No kidding," Snow muttered, sitting up and popping his shoulders and back. The images were fresh in his mind from his dreams last night, and despite not remembering everything fully, he decided he should at least tell Lightning, now that he had a better idea of who she was. She wasn't just some crazy girl who tried to kidnap him, Lightning was the person he'd always try to impress and get to know. The block that stood in the way of his memories of Serah was still present, however, it didn't cover the memories of bonding with his sister-in-law. He remembered every joke, snide remark, prank and paintball fight they ever had, and not just with Lightning. A tanned-skin woman named Fang also lingered in his mind, her relationship with him being that of a sarcastic older sister, a bubbly redhead of the name Vanille proved to be a cheerful younger sister, a dark-skinned older man was the father he never had growing up, and the silver-haired teen who pushed him off the bed had been a shy yet intelligent younger brother.

 "You were tossing and turning all night." Light added once she was up and moving around, the small kitchen in their hotel room already smelling of coffee being grounded. Three mugs were placed on the counter, ready to be filled with the warm liquid as the woman waited for the coffee machine to be finished.

 "Yeah, well... It wasn't just some ordinary dream, exactly," he took a seat at one of the stools at the counter by the kitchen, facing Lightning with a grin, "Do you— do you remember that paintball fight we had for Hope's fifteenth birthday?"

 "How could I forget? Vanille and Serah dominated the entire forest we rented and Hope ended up with a broken arm—" her eyes widened and she quickly forgot about the coffee, her tone becoming that of disbelief, "Wait, Snow, you—?"

 The laugh from the blond was all that was needed to confirm her implication. "Now, not all of it, I'm sure, but for the most part, I remember who I was, who I am. I just can't remember _her_ , your sister."

 Lightning visibly deflated; another chuckle from the blond as she passed him a mug of coffee.

 "What's this I hear about a paintball fight for my fifteenth birthday?" Hope decided to emerge from the rather large bathroom then, still drying his semi-soaked hair with a small towel, and (grudgingly) took a seat next to Snow. Light passed him his own cup, and to her surprise, he took a sip of it without any cream or sugar. Even _she_ didn't drink coffee black, she always preferred at least some sugar followed by a little bit of cream, but never completely bitter and black.

 Shrugging it off, the rosette answered his question, "When you were fifteen Snow had a bright idea to go paint balling on your fifteenth birthday, and— it was pretty...violent."

 It was violent, but it remained as one of Lightning's fondest memories; besides the ones of her and Serah, of course. It might as well have been the destruction of Eden all over again— paint stained every tree, people who had been ambushed lay unmoving on the ground, only offering advice to those still in the game, screams of defeat could be heard in the distance followed by more paintball shots being fired— it was the most fun they've had in a while. Minus the broken arm of Hope.

 "But it _was_ pretty fun," Snow chirped— obviously, he remembers winning alongside Serah— and finished his coffee to go take a shower after Hope. Before stepping into the rather large and elegant bathroom, he remembered, "Plane leaves in four hours!"

 Lightning was glad she showered last night; all that was remaining to do was repack her clothes and let Anna know how they were. She remembered Anna telling her how to contact her— similar to how Fang kept communications with Snow during their trip in Palumpolum. Except this cellular device actually had a screen to navigate through the endless amounts of applications that the Claire of this world had downloaded. This version of herself had honestly been gradually getting on her nerves the more she found out more things about her, and how Anna put up with her for twenty two years remained a mystery. Ignoring the oncoming annoyance with her alternate self, the rosette pulled out the device from her bag, unlocking the screen and searching for Anna’s number. It hadn’t taken her very long to adjust to the technologies of this world, especially when Anna had seen her struggling earlier and helped her out back in New York.

 While waiting for her guardian to pick up on the other line, Light let her mind wander. Obviously, she was, dare she say it, _happy_ that Snow finally remembered most of his memories. Her theory had been proven right after all, and she did love being right about things— now the tricky part was getting everyone back together. With a tiny sliver of guilt, the soldier _was_ thankful that she had two rich men to help her out with the plane fares and hotels; she had to only worry about convincing the others to join them.

 “Lightning!” The woman on the other line finally picked up after moments of ringing with a sigh of relief, and Light couldn’t help but smile a bit to herself at her worry. “Finally, you give me a call!”

 “Yeah, sorry about that, An—”

 “So what’s Germany like? Is it big, spacious? Are there little country houses like in the Sound Of Music?” Lightning held the phone away from the bombarding questions, enticing a chuckle from the silver haired man packing his bag, “I've always wanted to visit, just for fun and to try the authentic beer from the bars there— but Claire would never let me, of course! Anyways, what’s your hotel like? Is the room big enough, sweetie? Has that Villiers tried anything funny—”

 “ _Anna_ ,” The rosette fought off the urge to gag as she glared at the now laughing Hope, “We’re fine, and if he did, he wouldn’t be breathing right now.”

 She sighed on the other line, sounding tired all of a sudden. The small burst of excitement had worn off with Lightning’s reassurance. “Alright, dear. Just checking up on you; it’s dangerous traveling in this time and age!”

 Light wasn’t sure what she meant exactly, but nodded nonetheless. “Don’t worry, I can take care of myself, trust me. We’re about to leave for the plane to Australia, but I just called to let you know that we’re doing alright.”

 “Alright, Light. Thanks for calling— oh! And is that Mr. Estheim as cute as he looks? That photo that Snow showed me was absolutely _adorable!_ I could just eat him up! Dear, mind yourself around him, he looks like a keeper—”

 “ _Bye_ , Anna!”

 The abrupt end of the call wasn’t enough to end the laughter from the director next to her.


	8. The Boss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A longer chapter!  
> [I do not own the Final Fantasy XIII storyline/plot nor any of the characters]

 "Says here..." Light muttered as she pulled out her phone from her jacket pocket, hiking her backpack up on her shoulder a bit higher, "Vanille is staying at the Langham Hotel, a few minutes from here." She turned to the two men behind her, both of which with two other men with them, handling their bags and suitcases since they got off the plane ride to New Zealand. When the rosette saw that Snow and Hope had lackeys to carry around what they were too lazy to carry themselves ("You have arms, don't you?"), she couldn't help but roll her eyes and saunter off the terminal in a huff, pulling her own rolling suitcase along with her.

 Hope was the first to speak up after Light, a look of slight shock on his features, "The Langham? That place is over two thousand dollars!"

 "She's a model, I think she has enough money to toss around," The young woman replied, beginning to walk towards the escalator that would take them to the first floor of the airport. "Villiers, you'll get left behind wandering around like that."

 The blond scoffed, "I'm not your little brother anymore, sis, if anything, you're my younger sibling—"

 "In _this_ universe," her cyan orbs narrowed slightly, testing his tease, "But back home, who was it that almost gave you _two_ black eyes in ultimate frisbee?"

 Immediately, Snow's confidence retailed and shrunk back into its shell with a nervous laugh, remembering all too well that fateful game of ultimate frisbee between Lightning and Fang and himself and Sazh. Of course, Sazh might not have been the best choice to have on a frisbee team, not when he was up against two (unfortunately and quite unfairly) athletic women that could easily knock him out with just one punch to the gut. Perhaps they went easy on the old man, but he remembered Fang "accidentally" nicking him on the nose with the frisbee one turn, while Lightning "coincidentally" aimed for his eyes. Sazh didn't leave the match with much injury besides a sore knee and some sweat.

 The silver-haired man to her left asked with a slightly amused tone, "Are you two always like this?"   

 "When she's not trying to kill me, yeah, we're pretty cool," The giant slung his arm over her shoulder, to which she shrugged off with a scoff and a roll of her eyes, "Right, sis?"

 "Funny, you two don't look alike." Hope's sea green eyes switched between the blond and rosette, noting the big differences— obvious different hair colors, slightly different skin palettes, _very_ different heights and builds, and not to mention contrasting personalities— however both seemed to contain a hidden stubbornness within them, put under the right circumstances, the young man was sure the two could bond on many things. From the sounds of it, they already have, with the talk of ultimate frisbee and paintball fights, all of which ending rather violently.

 "I'm not his sister," Lightning found herself saying for the umpteenth time in her lifetime as they reached the bottom floor, their lackeys struggling to keep up with their fast pace, "He just calls me 'sis' out of stubbornness and the fact that he's marrying my sister."

 " _He's_ engaged?"

 "Hard to believe, I know."

 "You should have seen Light's face when she found out! I wish I had gotten a picture. 'Worst birthday ev—' _ACK!_ "

 "Ignore him for the rest of the ride, Hope."

 "No problem..."

* * *

 

 "Snow, face it, we're lost." Hope stated as he looked out the window to the empty road ahead of them for the thousandth time, Light doing the same for her own window as the silver-haired man ran a hand through his locks, "I _knew_ we should have gotten a cab."

 "Cab! Are you doubting my driving skills, junior?" The former baseball player pursed his lips as he kept the rental car at a paced speed, attempting to find an exit to the road they had somehow gotten themselves into. It had been at least four hours since they left the airport, and after losing a rock, paper, scissors match, Snow had been declared driver of the day. Which, unfortunately for them, meant that they would be driving in circles for at least two hours, then completely lost for the next two, due to his incredibly _crappy_ sense of direction that he kept to himself.

 Checking her phone, the former soldier sighed, mumbling, "No signal. We're stuck out in Etro knows where."

 Hope didn't even have the ability to question Light on her mention of this "Etro", for his energy and patience were both wearing dangerously thin. Perhaps he should have driven, that way he could simply use the GPS on his top of the line phone, then get them to the Langham in no time flat. They probably would have been eating by now, at a four star restaurant, Light could be wearing an elegant dress that suited her and himself a clean suit, with fresh steak and chilled vegetables, maybe with a bit of wine of the side and for dessert—

 His train of thought (or rather, daydreaming) were abruptly stopped when the window to the back seat of the rental car suddenly collapsed, glass shards flying at him and nearly nicking his expensive face and clothes. Quick to shield himself from the sudden danger, he had time to shout, "Was that a bullet?!"

 "Get down!" Light ordered in reply, ducking under the dashboard of the front of the car as Snow nearly swerved off the road, Hope barely having time to duck down himself before nearly receiving a possible concussion. "Snow, step up the gas!"

 "You got it!" With a gloved hand, he grabbed the shifter and thrusted it forward, the car gaining a new level of speed as more bullets were shot and dented into the car's exterior, Light's window shattering soon after Hope's. The director scrambled to get down, however attempted to get a look at who or what was attacking them in the middle of no where, vaguely spotting a beat up, worn out Camero behind their Honda, gaining speed just as fast as they were and catching up quickly.

 "Who the hell are these guys?" Lightning dared to sling her seatbelt off her waist and stuck her head out the now shattered window, trying to get a better look at their pursuers. Dodging several bullets on her way back into the safety of the car, she regretted not attempting to look for a suitable weapon back in Germany when she had the chance; her pocketknife was not the best item to aim and throw at a vehicle moving at eighty miles per hour on a open road. Perhaps her beloved gunblade would have been of use to her right about now—!

 Snow glanced at the rear view mirror, the worn vehicle close on their tail and continuing to fire at them, and just as he was about to make a rash move to try to outrun them, the road beneath them suddenly began to get very bumpy, and after a realization of what happened and a loud curse from Lightning, their speed began decreasing at a rapid pace— a broken bottle had been (possibly thrown) on the road and had obviously busted one of their tires. He sure was going to need to pay back the rental company for their car after _this_ little road trip.

 The trio exchanged worried and angry glances, the anger mostly from Lightning, while the worry was supplied by both men of the group, each person breaking out into a cold sweat as the members of the car behind them slowed to a stop. Their car doors popped open, four men emerging with masks only half covering their faces, leaving their eyes exposed and each were wearing a type of uniform, similar yet retaining its independence and differences from each other. Needless to say, they looked to bro art of a larger group that seemed dangerous.

 "We could try and run," Snow offered once he got a gander at the men approaching from behind through the rear-view mirror.

 "No, they're armed, we're not." The rosette next to him replied, refusing to look behind her at the men. Hope and Snow knew she was right, so they left any attempts to escape within their heads as they quite possibly face their very death before their eyes.

 One of the men kicked at Light's door, surely adding to the dents on the exterior of the car, and stooped down to the level of the window to peek at the trio.He honestly did not look very dangerous, simply a man of business and possible boredom in Light’s eyes. His blond hair and hazel eyes along with his red bandana also helped the fact that he really didn’t seem to pose a threat, “A bit late to be out on the roads, dont’cha think?”

 “We could say the same for you,” the rosette replied coolly, not flinching under his gaze. Hope attempted to make himself transparent in the backseat as Snow remained calm with Light. “Also a bit dangerous to be using those toys on the road.”

 The man chuckled slightly, muffled slightly by his mask, however his accent remained thick,  “Well, thing is, sweetheart, we run these parts ‘round here. Ain’t anyone who wanders these roads at night without wantin’ to start a fight. But,” one glance towards the panicking Hope Estheim in the back seat told him enough, “you blokes don’t look like you’re wantin’ a fight.”

 “Well, thanks, officer,” Snow chimed in at that moment, flashing a grin in the blond’s direction, “We’ll be on our way, now.”

 The two men that had left the Camero behind them appeared on the opposite side of the car, defeating any purpose of escape or a quick getaway. Lightning inwardly groaned and Snow narrowed his eyes in their direction, not liking the looks of this situation any better. The man sighed lightly and replied, “Sorry, kids. But the boss’ll wanna see the likes of you.”

* * *

 

 After being kindly escorted to a deeper, more sketchy part of the area they were in, complete with drug vendors selling their wares, children continuing to play on the streets while cars zoomed past, cats zipping around in search of food and shelter, and not to mention the incredible amount of gunshots heard in the distance, the trio had successfully lost their rental car and ended up before the door to the office of their famous boss, whoever it was who had the nerve to control the roads of a public area. Of course, Lightning was seething, albeit silently, as they were ushered before the door to the office. How were they ever going to get close to Vanille at this rate? _If_ they don’t get killed first, for this “boss” sounded like a cold-blooded killer from the way Adonis, the name of the blond who had quite politely asked them to exit their vehicle and come with his men, talked about him with his bandit members.

 “This is all _your_ fault,” Hope hissed to Snow, who had been— not surprisingly— calm about this situation thus far. The blond idiot didn’t know danger when it stared him in the face, so of course he wouldn’t worry about the gravity of this. Light did admire that, however, about him. “If you hadn’t gotten us _lost_...!”

 “Hey, it’s not my fault these idiots think they can own a certain part of town,” The taller of the three whispered back, to which Hope rolled his eyes. “Besides, this boss is all talk, you’ll see.”

 The door itself was intimidating to the silver-haired director. Leave it to shy, sheltered Hope to get himself into this bandit business and shootings, not knitting and smooth jazz. He wasn’t about that life, of course not. The only upside to this whole ordeal was the chance to meet Lightning; possibly the first woman that he had ever actually taken the time to actually talk to. Perhaps it was her strong personality, or the distance she puts herself between others, or the fact that she is constantly blowing this one strand of hair from her eyes that he wishes he could just reach over and brush it away for her— either way, he decided to stick around simply to find out if she was telling the truth about the whole “old friends” thing. It was interesting how both Snow and Lightning held a familiar aura around them, and just as they go off on their rangers about violent paintball fights and deadly frisbee games, very slowly, he begins to remember certain things about each of them; Lightning told him to call her "Light", something he had already known, Snow claims he can easily carry him and possibly throw him if he wanted to, and vaguely, he remembers actually being carried by him once, however he does not remember being thrown— on purpose.

 Adonis was surprisingly calm about confronting his boss; they assumed everyone was afraid of this killer, including the workers themselves. Without knocking, he simply opened the door to the office and called out, "Boss, these are the blokes who were hangin' around on our turf. Ya wanted to see 'em, right?"   

The rosette let out a small gasp, and, not surprisingly, so did Snow.

 _“Fang?”_ The two said in unison, taking a few steps towards the figure behind the desk of the office, who seemed to be completely comfortable with their legs perched up on what looked to be expensive red wood (specifically noticed by Hope), their casual clothes consisting of a black cropped top, dark blue sash that started over her left shoulder and ran over her right leg towards her brown boots, and as both expected, she retained most of the same style jewelry that she originally had back on Cocoon. This Fang was identical to the original Fang they both remembered.

Dark, wavy brown hair, bronze skin, a tattoo running up her left shoulder and a small but noticeable beauty mark under her right eye; the only shocking thing to Hope was that the “boss” was a _woman_ and not a man after all. And a quite attractive one at that, he noted, as she brought her legs down and stood to full face the trio. Her expression remained slightly sour, however held a small expression of curiosity, “Now how the hell do you blokes know my name? Not everyone ‘round here is exactly on familiar terms with the boss.”  

 Light was the first to reply, “Fang— Oerba Yun Fang, that’s your full name, isn’t it?”

 Her green eyes narrowed, “Wanna tell me how ya know?”

 “You _have_ to remember us,” The blond added, pulling Hope forward to stand with them, “Hope, Lightning, and Snow. Any of that ring a bell?”

 The former soldier was glad that Fang kept her accent, hearing her speak was actually quite calming once in a while, when she wasn’t making a new joke about your sister and brother-in-law possibly going at it after dark, or making fun of your hair color. However, she could sense that Fang was growing suspicious about them, by the way that she narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, both Snow and Lightning knew they were close to getting a beating. “Not a bit. Have I _done_ anything to you before? Though, I have to admit that I would probably remember if we had met before— those har colors are quite the spectacle.”

 “So...you don’t remember Vanille?”

 “Vanille Dia? That model?” the lack of emotion shown when she said Vanille’s name was a bit of a stab to Snow and Light. They were closer than family, those two, something everyone of the group often admired and envied. Out of the corner of her eye, the rosette could swear she could have seen a bit of perk of Hope’s attention when Vanille’s name was mentioned, and she remembered: those two also had something of a friendship that she envied as well.  “Why in hell would _I_ know her?”

 It was beginning to become a habit to immediately know how to explain the story of their l’cie journey and their lives before this for Lightning. And, of course, Snow would add in his bits of information to her explanation, often of which were completely unnecessary (“I’m pretty sure you and Vanille had something going on besides being friends—”). Hope listened again, and as the second time hearing it, the story made a bit more sense to him. Some parts he can easily recall, yet for others it was a blank page that needed to be filled in completely with the memory. Nonetheless, the director was glad to begin to remember everything, it was sure to please Lightning and Snow.

 “Fang, you need to come with us,” Light firmly reasoned after explaining, “It’s the only way you’ll remember who you _really_ are, because you’re _not_ a bad guy. You’re not a killer.”

 “You don’t know who or what I am, Lightning,” The bronze-skinned woman replied just as firmly and with an added tone of annoyance under her words. They knew they were in trouble, and with the way she was practically fuming over Light’s statement, Hope was tempted to simply blot from the room and accepting the fact that he will possibly never get that date with Lightning.

 With a nod to Adonis and the other men guarding the door, Fang gave the order, “Lock ‘em up.”

 Immediately, the armed men grabbed the trio, despite their obvious struggles and attempts of kicking from Lightning, and began to yank them away from the office, Adonis trailing behind them. One last look at Fang told Lightning that this was not the last time that she would see her— and that fact scared her just a little bit for the first time since she woke up in New York that morning.

 

 

 


	9. We're Square

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [I do not own the Final Fantasy XIII storyline/plot nor any of the characters]

“I _can’t_ believe Fang would do this,” Snow muttered to himself, arms crossed over his chest as he glared at the tall gate that held them within their small, cage-like “dungeon”, as Adonis dubbed it. Leave it to two responsible adults and a blonde to get captured by a gang, possibly awaiting their own executions. “This’ll make the _second_ time I let a _girl_ take me down!”

“Snow, you’re not counting the other thirty times _I've_ taken you down,” Lightning muttered under her breath, arms crossed over her chest as she leaned against the wall of their cage. She, of course, was offended beyond belief over the fact that _Fang_ , of all people, had the audacity to lock them up in a cage. For Etro's sake, they had been frozen in crystal for two years! Why, after all of the drama and near-death experiences they've been through, she had expected a _kinder_ welcome to her little bandit gang. Also, that fact bothered her, as well - a _bandit_ gang? Oerba Yun Fang was many things, but a bandit was not one of them. At least, from what she knew and from what Vanille told her, Fang had nothing to do with any crime. Now, trouble **—** making, that was another story.

She spared a glance in Hope’s direction, who had his head pressed against a wall of the cage, his arms dangling by his sides as he - as Lightning put it - rethought his entire life choices. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to get Hope so early in their trip...

“Well, what do we do now?” Snow turned to face the pair, rolling his eyes briefly at Hope’s position, “We’re stuck in here. Unless the _fabulous_ Lightning Farron has a plan.”

 “Oh, what? The _great_ Snow Villiers is out of bright ideas?” The rose-haired woman rose an eyebrow, pushing herself off the wall to walk towards one of the gates that blocked them in, “And _yes_ , I do have a plan. Give me a boost - and Hope, snap out of it, Fang wouldn’t _really_ have us killed.”

“So you think!” The director whipped his head up, ignoring the struggling Snow and now taller Lightning, “I barely remember her, and from what I do remember, she’s as cold as stone!”

_“Cold?”_

“As _stone?”_

With that, the siblings-in-law promptly attempted to block Hope’s tangents out of their minds, Snow finally pushing Light over the edge of the gate. Fang should really consider getting a taller gate next time, the woman found herself thinking with an amused half smile, letting herself drop to the floor below, making sure her footsteps didn’t alert any guards or bandits wandering nearby. She turned back to the gate, hands on her hips, “I’ll look for a key or something to break this gate open, you two sit tight.”

“You’re gonna get killed!” Hope exclaimed, sea-green eyes wide. Light had to sigh to herself; this Hope honestly wasn’t as experienced as the Hope who attempted murder. “At least take Snow with you.”

“ _He’ll_ get killed if he tags along. Trust me, director,” She gave a half-smile, “I’ll be fine.”

And, she was gone as fast as, well, lightning.

* * *

 

 _How big_ is _this place?_ The rose-haired woman thought angrily to herself as she made a dash down another hallway, hair whipping behind her and her boots making small squeaks against the ground. So far, after about a total of thirteen minutes, Light had found nothing but twisting hallways and even more gates off areas, but no guards— which didn't exactly calm her— and no keys or at least a crowbar to get the gate open.

She definitely did not remember going through all of these hallways to get to the gate in the first place, however she did remember passing by a certain someone's office, which seemed to be empty by the looks of it. Perhaps she could catch a lucky break and find a pair of keys or something sturdy to pop the gate open in no time. Slipping into the office after making sure the coast was clear, Lightning made did a quick once-over of the room: the same expensive looking desk in the left corner, with several papers scattered across it in a messy manner, a bulletin board with more papers and flyers tacked onto it, decorative and exotic plants that seemed to take up most of the room, and two swords perched in the middle of the wall, crossed over each other and well polished. Mostly everything that Fang would probably have in an office, Light figured.

She made her way towards the desk, pulling open drawer after drawer until she found exactly what she was looking for— a crowbar. Why Fang would need a crowbar tucked in the very last drawer of her desk, the woman didn't know nor want to know, and as she began to close it, something caught her eye. A photo, with the edges torn a bit, of two people; two of which Lightning knew too well. After Fang said so convincingly that she didn't know who Vanille was, she hadn't expected to see a picture of them together, in a particularly lovey-dovey pose of Fang draping her arm across Vanille's shoulders and smooching her cheek. After getting over the slight disgust over the public displays of affection, Lightning tucked the photo away into her back pocket, deciding to save it for later if they run into each other again.

 Since she found what she was looking for, the former soldier decided to make her way back to Snow and Hope, who were probably panicking over her life (well, perhaps Snow was calm). As she turned another corner, she quickly backtracked behind it before being spotted by none other than Fang herself, chatting with Adonis in the hallway. However, Lightning was able to peek over to hear what they were saying, as Adonis seemed to appear confused.

“Boss, why’d ya say ya didn’t know Vanille?” His hands were tucked into his pockets, devoid of his red bandana, “I mean, I know it’s been a few years, but you two were really close.”

The brunette let out a sigh, a hand resting on her hip as she leaned against the wall, “Listen, what happened between her and I was ages ago. I thought it’d be better if they didn’t know what went on between us— who ever they are. But I _am_ curious as to how they know Vanille, too.”

“That story they told was kinda far fetched, don’tcha think?”

 “A little. . . but for some reason, it made me kinda sad. It wasn’t because their story was a bit ‘crazy’, but I felt as if I _should_ know 'em. That maybe they _are_ tellin’ the truth, because no way would three idiots get caught out in the middle of our turf without knowin’ exactly who they’re dealin’ with. And their names. . . to be honest, they _did_ ring a bell.”

Lightning nearly gave away her hiding place as she dashed off the opposite way, a burst of adrenaline running through her veins. She had a _chance!_ Albeit a small chance, it was a chance nonetheless, and as she finally weaved her way through the endless hallways of the facility to where Snow and Hope were, she couldn’t help but ignore the fact that they were in a cage and go straight to telling them about Fang and Vanille.

“Fang— she remembers us,” The rose-haired woman panted lightly, clutching the crowbar in her hand, “and Vanille, too. They were together a few years back.”

 Snow was the first to pipe up with a laugh, “I _knew_ they had something goin’ on between ‘em!”

 “That’s great and all, Light, but can you get us out of here, now?” The silver-haired man spoke up next to the bubbly blonde, hands grasping the fence that caged them in. Pulling Lightning from her swirling thoughts, the woman then stood back to jam the crowbar into the edge of the fence, pulling back with brute force as she waited to hear a popping noise from the gate’s screws. Unfortunately, all of this commotion had been rather loud, they had guessed, as several guards began to rush their way to where they were, fully armed and equipped. The gate finally popped open just before the guards began to circle them, and as Hope and Snow hurried out of the cage, Light felt the barrel of what seemed to be a pistol held up to her head.

She turned slowly, ignoring the cold sweat that rolled down her neck, to come face to face with just the woman she had wanted to see, “Fang.”

 “I don’t believe we’re on a first name basis, yeah? _Sunshine.”_

Snow came to stand in front of Lightning, holding an arm over her to keep her from possibly tearing Fang’s head off, “Only you know that nickname for Light, Fang. Give it up, you do remember us, and Vanille.”

 Hope, not so to appear courageous but wanting to appear chivalrous, came to stand next to Snow as well, “It won’t cost you anything to leave these hoodlums and come with us, Fang.”

The Australian gave a laugh, bringing her pistol down to her side, her green eyes holding an amused shine, “Well, I didn’t think ya’d need two gumbies to keep ya safe, Lightnin’. Ya appeared to be capable of handlin’ yourself.”

“We’re not—” Hope’s words trailed off as the soldier pushed her way past them, eyes icy cold and fists clenched. Oh, she knew what Fang was up to— she had gotten so used to it back on Gran Pulse— and if this is what she wanted, then so be it. A little “playful” banter between them was not new, however this was different. She was purposefully poking fun at Lightning to get a reaction of some sort, and boy was she going to get one.

 _Hopefully, this will make her remember,_ Light thought to herself as Snow stepped aside as well, raising her hand midway to Fang and bringing it down onto her cheek, almost making the other stumble to the ground with the amount of force behind the assault. The guards behind them gasped and readied their weapons, ready to take aim and fire at will if need be. To be honest, it felt good to get Fang like that, the soldier found herself thinking, the palm of her hand stinging. It had been _too_ long since she was able to hit something that wasn’t her pillow or a punching bag. The only downside was that it happened to be one of her friends; a close one at that. But she knew this was what the tanned woman wanted, to get a reaction, any reaction from Lightning to see if she was the real deal, if _they_ were really meaning what they were saying about the whole Cocoon journey and about them being as close as they were.

Apparently, Fang got the message. She held a hand up towards the men and women circled around them with their weapons, signaling to stand down. As she held her cheek with the back of her hand, she turned back towards the three, a half smile present on her features despite the stinging pain, “That it?”

 With a shake of her head, the rose-haired woman put her hands on her hips with a smirk of her own, “You sure better hope so.”

Both Snow and Hope sighed in relief; another member gained.

**  
**


	10. Flicker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow it's summer.  
> [I do not own the Final Fantasy XIII storyline/plot nor any of the characters]

_"Lightning, what do you want for dinner tonight?" The younger of the Farron sisters asked as she poked her head into the elder's room, unfazed by her brutal chin-ups. It used to throw her off guard how hard her sister worked even after her actual work, but Serah had gotten used to it after three years of constant cursing and loud music coming from Lightning's room._

_Light performed one last chin-up, totaling thirty, before letting herself drop to the ground. "Whatever's fine with me— actually, do we have any leftover steak?"_

_Serah grinned, knowing how much her sister loved meat, "Uh huh, we sure do. I'll go heat that up for us."_

_The elder rosette have a half-smile before going back to her chin-ups, brushing some hair from her eyes. She was glad she had that bar installed in her room a few months ago; using a tree branch from the tall tree out her window began to get a bit demanding after a while. Amodar recommended she do more physical training outside of her job a few years back after she first joined the Corps, and ever since then the habit had stuck with her. Not that she minded, the training had done wonders for her (already slim) body, adding muscle where she appreciated it being most and boosting her metabolism and height. Eighteen years old and already five foot seven, taller than most other girls in her unit, and even outside the military scene. It was a bit odd, however, being built while her younger sister stayed "soft" and slim— it_ did _match Serah's personality, though, seeing as she was not as tough faced and hardened as Lightning was at that point._

_After her twentieth chin-up, she began to smell the inviting aroma of her beloved behemoth steak wafting through her room, and she dropped down from the bar to run to the bathroom to grab a towel. As she rubbed the towel along the back of her neck, Light walked into the kitchen to see Serah setting two plates onto the kitchen counter, steak accompanied by veggies deliciously, and a glass of water to top it off. Something Lightning could gladly say was that she was proud her sister was a great cook._

_"It smells great," The elder commented as Serah hopped onto one of the stools by the counter, "as always."_

_"Of course! It was made by me, what did you expect?" The younger playfully winked as she took a bite out of a chopped carrot, Light taking a seat next to her. "And you need a shower."_

_Ignoring her sister's last comment, the rosette picked up her fork and took a bite from the gorgeously prepared steak, taking a moment to revel in the tastes and spices that Serah had added the night before. She needed to learn how to make a steak half as well as her sister, it could possibly come in handy while on patrol. "Serah, do you think you could," she finished chewing, "teach me how to make this as well as you do?"_

_The younger's eyes brightened, and she nodded immediately towards Lightning. It was rare to receive a request from her that was not one about her grades or to stay away from boys, so Serah would take this opportunity without a sliver of hesitation. A chance for possible sisterly bonding was not something she would want to miss out on— that, and seeing Light burn herself while cooking is very entertaining._

_"Of course I can! I can show you on your next day off!"_

* * *

 

 Lightning woke not as suddenly as she anticipated; her eyes simply opened and she found herself staring at the ceiling of the hotel they had checked themselves into hours before. The sky was still dark, stars glittering and crescent moon hanging by the clouds, so she guessed it was either very late or extremely early. Looking to her left, she saw a snoring Snow asleep on the couch, hair mussed and covering his eyes as a light green blanket barely reached his torso, and a softly sleeping Hope who had fallen asleep much more gracefully than the blonde, and instead had taken the bed next to Light's. The rosette idly remembered Fang saying she had things to wrap up back at her gang's hideout, and that she would join them in the morning.

 The young woman rubbed her eyes, shifting to lie on her side to face the wall. The memory had been random, it was one that she hardly remembered. She clearly remembered the cooking lesson afterwards, however, as she cannot forget the several burn marks she received from the stove, but the memory before hardly crossed her mind at all now. Any memory of Serah caused a pang of guilt to hit Lightning, so she tried not to remember too much— but she could not stop her dreams from bringing up such memories. She was relieved it was not a nightmare, seeing as those had been recent after the l'cie situation. Nightmares of Serah never waking up from crystal stasis, of her running away with Snow for good, of herself _dying_ while trying to protect Serah had plagued her mind before, but after a year they had died down. She hated them; feeling weak and shaken had never been enjoyable for the soldier. She was always the strong one, the tough girl who would not let a few nightmares get to her, but when they involved her young sister, they very much did get to her.

 Not to say she did not have good dreams, before. She had dreamed of Fang and Vanille waking up from their crystal stasis in the past, or grilling the best steak in all of Cocoon (impressing even Serah, mind you), and even one of an older Hope, somewhere, working hard on developing some type of object for another generation. Usually with that dream comes bits and pieces of another common nightmare; one of a man in purple and an endless battle— she did not pay attention to that fighting part as much as she did to the older Hope bit. But more recently, Light would simply sleep without any dreams or nightmares, which was not entirely a bad thing. She would rather not experience anything than to wake up with her eyes wet and hands clutching the sheets.

 After a few more minutes of thinking, she promptly fell back into an uneventful sleep.

* * *

 

 Hope’s eyes were screwed shut, his hands clutching at the sheets around him as his dreams went haywire. It was a giant mass of fireworks, a woman who heavily resembled his mother, and, surprisingly enough, Lightning and Snow, along with Fang and a few others he was sure he knew.

 But, from what he could tell with the jumbled up words and phrases was that he was younger when this happened. He felt younger in the dreams, almost a child yet on the brink of becoming a man, the fine line between the two. He could see his mother, falling from a crumbling bridge before finally meeting her end, he remembered screaming in agony as he had no choice but to watch, to see the man responsible for letting her die— _Snow._ He could feel the anger, the passion for revenge bubbling inside him, and as the memories flickered and flipped like pages in a book, he was brought to one between himself and Lightning. She handed him her blade, the same one he had in his office earlier, and the touch of the material felt the same, but the emotions were worlds apart. He felt stronger, wiser, and a newfound admiration and warmth for the rose-haired woman. He felt the injuries from battles, the little victories and defeats, the rough feel of a boomerang beneath his fingertips.

 A redhead, Vanille, he guessed, gave him advice, helped him to get back on his feet. Her kindness only encouraged him to push himself harder; to become mature and to grow up from his sheltered life. Snow’s forgiveness nearly sent him to tears, yet he kept them inside to look as tough as him, to become as hardened as him. The sights, the strange yet amazing animals he came across, the vast, green plains and bright blue skies combined with the final events of the dream. Of a cold, dark, desolate place. Someplace he could not place, and he was sure neither could the others if he were to ask. Then, the light hit him, a warmth that he had never experienced, and he felt crystal shards melting away as he walked on the plains of Gran Pulse once again. The shining pillar, the brief sadness replaced with comfort as he looked towards Lightning again were the last things he saw before he finally opened his eyes.

 He wanted to shut them again and relive it all.   

* * *

 

 “Fang, will you stop _hiding_ behind Snow?” Lightning nagged towards her friend for the

umpteenth time that day, dragging the Pulsian away from the taller blonde.

 The brunette laughed, albeit nervously, and rubbed the back of her neck, "I wasn't _hidin'_ , Light. I was just. . ."

 " _Hiding_."

 "You would be, too, if you were about to see your ex for the first time in ages!"

 Hope, Snow and Lightning had woken up at the hotel and gotten themselves ready to face another challenging day, Fang arriving a few hours after breakfast. She explained exactly what went on between her and Vanille, why they broke up and why they simply broke contact completely for over two years. They had been together for over four years before the break up, having known each other since they were kids growing up in New Zealand. However, Fang began to get involved with her mafia business around the same time Vanille began to experience symptoms of depression— masking her pain, putting on a happy facade in front of the camera, and most of all cutting her wrists. Fang would not have any of that, and tried to convince the redhead that the modeling business was killing her, but the younger would not listen to a word, and eventually, her company ordered for Vanille to get rid of all ties with her, stating it was because of her role in the mafia. Vanille, obviously helpless in the decision, promptly did just that, but not before telling Fang the real reason for the break up. The elder of the two understood, and decided it would be best for them not to contact each other for a while, if only to protect Vanille.

 "She's not _technically_ your ex," Snow chimed in, "you didn't _really_ break up. I mean, you two still have feelings for each other, right?"

 "Well. . ." Fang stuffed her hands in her pockets, kicking a stray pebble across the busy sidewalk they had found themselves in on their way to Vanille's hotel. "I don't know if she's found someone else, someone with just as much money and fame— better than a _mafia_ leader."

 Both Snow and Lightning nearly groaned, while Hope simply sighed and shook his head. Placing a hand on her shoulder, the ever wise silver-haired man replied, "Fang, you're being irrational about this. From what I remember, Vanille and you were inseparable, there's no way she could have found someone else in such a short time period."

 "Hope's right, you two were bound by something stronger than family," Lightning added, brushing some rose bangs from her eyes, "don't be so dramatic."

 After weaving themselves through crowds and nearly getting bit by cars trying to cross the road ("What? You _wimpy_ Americans don't jaywalk?") the four finally reached their destination of Vanille's hotel, the glamorous Langham hotel. Compared to the people walking out of the hotel, the four looked like mere peasants in their jeans and simple tops, Hope being a bit of an exception due to his "high-maintenance" standards of clothing he had brought with him. Lightning dragged a slightly trembling Fang into the lobby, it's gorgeous setting not throwing the soldier off one bit as they found the front desk.

 A rather bright and bubbly brunette stood behind the desk, typing away furiously and filing away papers before noticing the bunch, "Oh, hiya! Welcome to the Langham hotel! What can I do for you?"

 Lightning briefly noticed her name tag that read "Lina" before getting down to business, "We're here to see Vanille Dia, we're personal friends."

 She tucked some brown strands behind her ear, clicking around in her computer before replying, "Miss Dia is on floor forty-four, room thirteen. Hope you have a terrific day!"

 The rosette thanked her quickly before grabbing the men's attention away from more models that seemed to be getting their bags together while in their photo shoot outfits ("You're _engaged,_ Snow!") and taking an elevator right as its doors were closing. Fang was visibly nervous now, fidgeting with her brown, leather jacket's sleeve and wringing her hands as the numbers climbed up and up, the elevator giving them a beautiful view of New Zealand and all the busy patrons below.

 Light noticed Hope's closed eyes and almost equal nervous fidgeting, "Hope, are you. . .okay?"

 His sea green eyes popped open, "Huh? Oh—  oh yeah, I'm fine. . . just the," he averted his eyes from hers, a slight redness to his cheeks appearing as he said the word, "height."

 Yes, she thought finally, this version of Hope was much more different than the Hope she knew. Stifling a laugh, she only patted his shoulder, "Director, I don't know if you've realized this, but you _are_ tall yourself."

 "Light, that's different, and you know it."

 "Snow is at least a _foot_ taller than you and he's fine with heights."

 "Snow obviously isn't humanly _normal_ ," Hope crossed his arms, fully facing away from the view, "Remember when he survived that fall from, what, forty feet?"

 " _Hey_ ," the blonde interrupted, "We were l'cie back then, we could survive, like, anything."

 "Speaking' of l'cie, sunshine, ya still got your mark where it was?" Fang flashed a knowing grin, laughing when the rosette moved to hurry the elevator up by mashing the button furiously while muttering under her breath.

 The elevator came too slowly for Lightning, and by the time it had arrived at the desired floor her face was a bright tomato red, Snow and Fang snickering like ten-year-olds at immature jokes they had conjured up. The hallway was empty, each door closed shut and seemed a tad spooky as they made their way to room thirteen, doors and numbers whizzing past them as their eyes looked for Vanille’s room.

 Fang shouldn’t felt as nervous as she did— for God’s sake, a mafia leader was nervous over seeing her ex, what else could make this situation any more ridiculous?—  but her heart kept hammering against her ribcage as the numbers on the doors counted down to thirteen. The shiny, gold numbers were encrusted into the pure white doors, and they seemed to almost scream at her to leave. To get over Vanille, to move on and find someone else. And it was not as if the woman hadn’t tried to, she had a few flings here and there, but none of them had that same spark, the same connection as with the redhead. It was not something she could control, her desire to see and hold Vanille again, it was almost natural, as if they had known each other for centuries. When the two had first met, despite how sappy this would sound, it was love at first sight. Both felt a familiarity towards the other, and they had hit it off immediately. Vanille’s bubbly attitude and bright optimism contrasted with Fang’s sarcasm and realistic pessimism, and she was so sure that Vanille’s hands were almost made for hers to hold, the way they fit so perfectly.

 The rest of them waited for Fang to take a step forward and knock on the door, and when a little over two minutes had passed, Lightning took a breath and gently, hesitantly, put a hand on the Australian's shoulder. She remembered helping Fang out in an almost similar situation; she didn’t know what to do next, nothing was there to help or guide her. But with just a simple gesture, the Pulsian was back on her feet, new objective in mind. Their eyes met for the briefest second, before the elder of the two finally took a step and, shakily, knocked on the door.

 The sound of someone nearly tripping, along with a high-pitched “Coming!” was their answer. The sound of several locks coming undone followed, before finally, the door swung open, and there stood a short, petite young woman. Her red-hued hair was tied back into two ponytails, a bathrobe covered her torso while she donned soft green sweatpants and her bright green eyes seemingly ignoring everyone but the person standing front and center. It took a few seconds for the younger to realize who was standing in front of her, at her doorstep, looking as rugged and beautiful as she remembered.

 Her voice was shaky, “F-Fang?”

 The Oerban swallowed thickly. “H-Hey, ‘Nille. Long time no see, eh?”

 “I don’t. . .I didn’t think you still. . .” her voice trailed off, heat gathering at her cheeks. “What are you doing here? Who’re they?”

 “Well,” a hand went up to rub the back of her neck as she nervously laughed, “it’s a long story. Ya got any time to spare?”

 Vanille could only nod and welcome them in.

 

 


	11. Vogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yowza it's been a while.

“...So you two have been sleeping in that crystal pillar for the past two years. We’ve been trying to find ways to get you out of it, at least, but even that’s a bit risky.”

“We turned to  _ crystal? _ ”

“Yes.”

“Fang and I?”

“Yes, you two.”

“And...you want me to believe that?”

“Vanille,” Light sighed, “I know it’s far-fetched. I know it’s not what you expected to hear, but it’s the truth.”

The redhead crossed her arms over her chest, lips pursed. Had Lightning expected that Vanille go along with this easily? No, she knew that not even the eccentric Pulsian would believe something as bizarre as her tale. And with her newly acquired fame and personality, she knew Vanille would have a hard time coming around. Fang remembered bits and pieces, but the redhead showed no signs of remembering anything of their past— despite how close they remained to be in this world. Lightning had to admit she was glad they at least knew each other, but other than that, Vanille had no other contact with anyone else from their home, just like Hope and Snow.

Sitting in Vanille’s lush hotel room was a bit dazzling to the company. Well, dazzling to  _ most  _ of the company; Fang had been in these types of hotels before with Vanille when they were an item, Snow lived in one of New York’s best hotels, and Hope often stayed in penthouses when traveling. Lightning, however, had never been in such fancy quarters before, nor would she have dreamed so. It was usually Serah who would often daydream of big penthouses and fancy attire, but that was not to say that the soldier was not entranced by the sheer quality of the snacks they were idly munching on. It did nothing for their situation at hand, however.

“‘Nille, I know it sounds crazy, but they’re telling the truth,” Fang chimed in, taking a casual sip from her tea. “And believe it or not, but I remember some of the stuff they’re spouting.”

“You-You  _ do?”  _ her green eyes blinked, taken by surprise by her overall cool attitude towards this situation. “Fang, you  _ can’t  _ be serious—”

“I  _ am.” _ The brunette set down her tea gingerly, mindful of the China, and rose to her feet. “And you should, too. Do you really think I would run around with  _ these _ guys if I didn’t believe ‘em?”

The three seated next to Fang exchanged an offended look, but otherwise stayed quiet. This was between her and Vanille, it had seemed, and they had no part in it. Besides, if anyone could convince Vanille of coming along with them, it was Fang.

Vanille wrung her hands in her lap, “I... don’t know. If-If you  _ are  _ telling the truth, I can’t just up and leave. You know how they get.”

“Yeah, and that’s exactly the reason you  _ should  _ come with us. They’re killin’ ya, Vanille! If I hadn’t been there when you tried to—” she stopped suddenly, opting instead to sit next to the redhead. “Look, just  _ trust  _ me. I swear it’ll make sense.”

The rose-haired woman idly wondered what Fang meant.  _ What _ had Vanille tried to do? She could only imagine the worst, even if it was hard to picture for someone so jovial as Vanille. Even Lightning herself hadn’t thought of ending her life, despite the trials she had been put through; she could not begin to imagine the difficulties this world had put the redhead through.

The younger brushed a strand of red hair behind her ear, biting her lip. Finally, she sighed, glancing between the four of them. “If you’ve gotten Fang to believe your story, then I don’t see why I can’t give you all a chance.”

Fang enveloped Vanille in a hug, kissing her cheek. “That’s my girl! All we’ve gotta do now is figure out where to go from here.” She looked to Lightning, who nodded in response.

While Lightning and the others had begun thinking of a plan to leave, Vanille had slipped away to change out of her bathrobe and sweatpants into a light pink crop top, white skirt and brown ankle boots. She figured she could always send for her luggage sometime later; she had a feeling they wouldn’t be staying in Australia for long. To say she was excited would be an understatement— it’d been  _ years  _ since she last been with Fang. A tiny part of her dreaded the explanation of her sudden disappearance to her bosses that would soon come, but a bigger part didn’t care. The minute she saw Lightning and the others, she knew there was  _ something  _ about them that caused a fuzzy feeling her chest. Almost like Vanille had known them for years yet she was sure she had never seen them before in her life. If what Lightning claimed was true, they were all very close in another life, and she could feel it just by standing near them.

“So where are we headed from here?” The redhead asked as she joined the others in the main room.

“Not sure yet. We just need Sazh before we can find Serah,” The rosette answered, mentally kicking herself for not looking ahead to where Sazh could be.

Vanille wanted to say something about the name “Sazh”, but opted out. It wasn’t like she knew him— but it felt as if she could tell anyone all about him at the same time. “Do we have a plan?”

“We’ll improvise,” Fang replied. “Besides, your boss isn’t around, right? Or anyone from the company?”

She shook her head, “Nope, I was just visiting Australia for a few weeks before we went back to the states for some promotional thing.”

Snow thought for a moment before asking, “Sazh used to fly airships and stuff, right? Isn’t there a chance he could be in the U.S. Air Force?”

Lightning wasn’t familiar with the terms he was throwing around, but she heard “air” and “force”, which sounded similar to “air ship”, so she figured they were similar. “Where is that?”

“Well, I’m not super sure, but it’s back where Anna’s at.”

“Pensacola, Florida,” Hope chimed in, holding up his phone. “I took the liberty of searching his name, and his Facebook profile says he’s been a mechanic at their base for quite a while, now.”

They each exchanged a nod before looking towards Vanille and Fang. The brunette grined, “Okay, let’s bust outta here.”

* * *

 

Piling into the elevator was easier than Lightning thought it would have been, however fitting everyone into her smaller hotel room was a bit of a challenge. Their flight wouldn’t be until tomorrow evening, and instead of going their separate ways like she had predicted they would do, Vanille and Fang decided to stay the night with the others.

“To bond!” The redhead had cheerfully proclaimed as she flopped onto one of the hotel beds.

It wouldn’t have been so bad if they had a bit more  _ space _ to bond.

Currently, Lightning sat cross-legged on her hotel bed, Fang and Vanille were sprawled out on the floor, Snow had taken up a spot on the couch, and Hope pulled a chair from the small dining area. Each had a set of cards in their hands for a game of BS.

“Two sixes,” Fang declared, setting down two cards face down onto the middle pile of cards.

They all shared a suspicious glance. Snow opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and closed it. The brunette snickered, “What? Scared to call me out?”

“No, I don’t need any more cards. I practically have the whole deck from calling Lightning out.” the blonde said, holding up his thick stack of cards. Light gave a small, proud smile.

“One seven,” Hope went next, setting down his card. “I’m surprised you agreed to come with us so quickly, Vanille. I thought it would take more convincing than that.”

As Snow put down his card, she answered, “Well, I had a funny feeling from the moment I saw all of you. Like I  _ know  _ you guys. It’s weird, right?”

“I felt that, too,” Fang added as Lightning put down three cards. “Then I remembered the bruising dear old sunshine gave me, and thank Lady Luck, she gave me another one to set me in my place.”

The rosette didn’t look up from shuffling her deck, but her tone was amused. “I knew it would help you remember. It was either that or getting a bahamut to set you straight.”

Fang scoffed, tossing a card down. “One ten, and you just wanted an excuse to hit me.”

“That may be true.”

“BS!” Vanille called after Fang, flipping it over to reveal a four instead of a ten. Snow and Vanille whooped, high-fiving as Fang groaned, adding the middle stack of cards to her deck. Lightning and Hope chuckled softly, sharing a glance.

A few more rounds and two boxes of pizza later, the group decided to call it a night. Sleeping arrangements were somewhat of a challenge, again, seeing as their space was limited. Light decided to give her bed to Fang and Vanille to share while she would take the couch, but Hope said that meant he would be left to share a bed with Snow, who hogged the blankets, so ultimately Snow was left to the couch while they shared a bed.

_ It’s not weird, it’s not weird,  _ Hope kept repeating in his head like a mantra as he stared at the ceiling above him. The beds weren’t  _ too _ small, thankfully, but he could still feel Lightning’s warmth next to him. She was on her side, facing the wall, and probably already fast asleep as everyone else in the suite was. He couldn’t find it in him to sleep— not when the most drop dead gorgeous girl he’s ever seen was lying next to him.

The realization was slow but effective; Hope had an actual  _ crush  _ on Lightning, this tough, distant woman who suddenly came crashing into his life. Granted, he’s apparently known her for some time, and from what he remembered, there had always been soft feelings for her in his heart. That still didn’t make this any less embarrassing.

“Hope?”

Her soft voice pulled him out of his thoughts. “Yes?”

She shifted, lying on her back instead. “I didn’t think you were still awake. I can’t sleep, either.”

“Had a bad dream?” he asked.

“No. Just thinking too much, I guess.” Her eyes slipped closed, and she sighed. “I still can’t get over how tall you are. You were so  _ small _ .”

Hope stifled a laugh, settling for a smile instead. “You don’t look any different from what I remember. Still as headstrong and stubborn as ever.”

“I am not stubborn,” her glare held no malice, and was it him, or was her tone almost playful? “I just know what I’m doing.”

“I can’t argue with that.”

They were quiet for a while, looking up at the ceiling. Faint light flooded into the room from the moon hanging in the sky outside.

Just when Hope thought Light had fallen asleep, she spoke just above a whisper. “What if we don’t find her?”

He turned his head to face her. “Serah?”

She nodded, not looking at him. “I was so… _ awful _ to her. I haven’t thought about it until now. We said some things that were pretty hurtful. But I shouldn’t have been like that with her, not when I had just gotten her back.” A hand went up to cover her eyes.

Hope didn’t answer right away, trying to be careful with his words. “We all say stuff we don’t mean. I think Serah knows you didn’t mean what you said, just like you know she didn’t mean what she said to you. From what I remember, you two were close, and I don’t think you would let something like that ruin your relationship. You’re not that kind of person, and neither is she.”

Lightning turned to look at Hope halfway through his answer. It had just occurred to her how  _ mature _ he was. Him being tall was one thing, but she didn’t realize he also had the years of experience to go with it. It was unfair to look at him as if he were still young; Hope was older and, in this case,  _ wiser _ than Lightning, and deserved to be treated as equal to her.

“She loves you, you know.” He said finally.

The rosette closed her eyes, gently placing her hand on top of Hope’s. “I know.”


	12. Ohana

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is rly just a filler chapter, but we get some closure between characters.

“Someone wake them up.”

“Don’t look at me. Light would break my nose if I woke her up. Has that happened before? I feel like it has.”

“Our flight is in a few hours, can’t we just let them sleep some more? They look so peaceful. And cute.”

“Cute or not, we have a pilot who’s waiting on us across the world. I don’t think Sunshine will be happy if we miss the flight.”

The soft chatters of her teammates roused her awake, despite every nerve in her body telling her to keep sleeping. After talking to Hope last night, she fell asleep pretty quickly ; and without any nightmares, surprisingly. Light supposed she was just tired after traveling and thinking about her sister so much.

When she managed to blink her heavy eyes open, the rosette was surprised to feel a weight across her shoulder blades. She lifted her head to look— and the blush that grew across her cheeks was enough to rival a tomato. Hope’s arm was draped across her back, while one of her own arms was draped over his waist. No wonder Vanille mentioned they looked peaceful.

Lightning sat up carefully, pushing Hope’s arm off and removing her arm from his sleeping form. He was a heavy sleeper, so she opted to let him sleep a few more minutes and made her way to the dining area.

Fang, Vanille and Snow were chatting softly, drinking from coffee mugs.

“Morning!” The redhead chirped, offering a mug to Lightning. She yawned her thanks and sat down at the table with them. “We didn’t wanna wake you two.”

“Thanks,” she mumbled, spooning sugar into her coffee. “When’s our flight, again?”

“At one,” Fang answered. “Landing directly in Pensacola. I’ll admit, I miss American beaches. We’ll definitely have to make a pit stop while we’re there.”

She didn’t like the idea of wasting time at a beach when they could be looking for Serah, but Lightning didn’t object. After all, she was the one who pulled them from their normal lives to help fix her own. Besides, a small part of her wanted to see the beach. It reminded her of home.

Hope had decided to drag himself out of bed at that point, grumbling out a “morning” before accepting the mug of coffee Vanille held out to him.

“Do you think Sazh will recognize us?” Snow asked. “Actually, wait. What if he’s got a family? You know, Dajh?”

They hadn’t thought of that. Or, more accurately,  _ Lightning  _ hadn’t thought of that. “Well…his wife might still be alive. This world is different. I  _ did _ wake up with a mom, after all.” Speaking of Anna, she remembered she hadn’t called her in quite a while. Or even  _ checked _ her phone since they had picked up Fang. “Who I need to call ASAP.”

The others had begun to pack up their belongings, so she took her phone out to the balcony of their suite. She grimaced at the amount of missed calls and text messages that appeared on her lock screen, but dialed her number regardless of the lecture that she was surely going to receive. It was weird having a mom to yell at her again — it felt oddly comforting yet embarrassing at the same time.

“Claire!” Anna’s voice was full of relief. “Thank God! Where have you been? I was so worried you’d been kidnapped or mugged or  _ killed!” _

_ Well, technically speaking, we  _ were  _ kidnapped,  _ Lightning wanted to say, but thought better of it. “Yeah…sorry. We’re fine, we actually found two of the others. We’re actually heading back to the states to track down someone else.”

“Where?”

“Somewhere called Pensacola. It’s by a beach, I think.”

Anna’s excitement was evident in her tone. “Yes! Pensacola Beach, one of my favorites. I was actually deployed there during my time in the army. You’ll love it.”

“Are you alright? We should be heading back after we find Sazh we’ll find my sister. I mean,” she paused, taking a breath. “she’s supposed to be my sister.”

“I know, Light.”

“What if she doesn’t recognize me? Or worse, just tell me to get lost? That’s…that’s what I’m afraid of,” Light said quietly, leaning against the railing. She couldn’t stop thinking of the worst case scenario: Serah would reject her and the others, and all of their work would be thrown to the wind. The others would leave her soon after that, and where would that put her? It made her sick to her stomach even thinking of it— she hadn’t realized how close she had grown to the others. “I know I made a mistake, but I didn’t think something like  _ this _ would happen…”

“Claire Luce Farron, you listen to me,” Anna’s no-nonsense tone was back. “I understand you made a mistake, but the fact that you’re owning up to it proves you’re being an adult about the situation. And it isn’t like Serah didn’t say things that were hurtful to  _ you _ , either. You both were being dramatic and need to apologize to each other once you find her.”

The rosette hadn’t realized the wetness of her eyes until a tear slipped down her cheek. She scrubbed it away, sniffling slightly. Lightning hated when she cried, because it showed weakness and vulnerability.

But Lightning was not Claire.

And Claire cries  _ very _ easily.

“Okay. You’re right, I’m just…being stupid about it.” Light replied. “I just don’t want to lose her again. Or my friends.”

“They’re important to you, I know. They’re like your family. I wouldn’t want to lose them, either. So stop moping around and go find your friends, okay?”

“Yeah. I will. Thank you, Anna.”

“Oh, and can you get me a souvenir from Pensacola? I haven’t been in years.”

Lightning chuckled. “You got it.”

* * *

 

Vanille had been suspecting a talk from Fang, but she didn’t expect it when they were waiting in line for coffee at the airport.

They all had arrived two hours early for their flight, so the Pulsians decided to grab their sugar fixes at the nearby Starbucks (that, and Lightning had never had a pumpkin spice latte before, so it was decided unanimously that a pumpkin spice latte run was in order at once).

“So, you’re staying with us, right? After we find Serah?” Fang asked after they had ordered.

Vanille kept her eyes on her shoes. “I hadn’t thought about that yet. I have a job, you know.”

“A job that’s killing you.”

“Fang…”

“Now don’t you ‘Fang’ me, Vanille,” the brunette tipped her chin up to face her. “What’s holding you back?”

“I…” she shook her head, taking a step back. “I remembered. I remembered  _ all _ the people we’ve hurt, and  _ all _ the pain we caused. I don’t deserve to have a family, or  _ you.” _

The brunette sighed, rubbing a temple. Fang had remembered the things they did before, as well, so she couldn’t object to that. However, that didn’t mean they were undeserving of redemption.

“You can’t tell me you honestly believe that. You wouldn’t have even agreed to come with us if you really did.” She narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I didn’t think I’d remember anything like what I saw in my dreams last night. Fang,” Vanille replied. “You know what we did. It isn’t  _ right _ to just act like we deserve to live.”

“It wasn’t our  _ fault _ , Vanille. We didn’t  _ ask _ to be branded. We didn’t  _ ask _ for a focus. No one did. When all seven of us were branded, we didn’t ask for that! I just don’t…don’t understand why you’re so keen on getting rid of yourself. Where would that leave me? And Sazh, and Light, and the rest of ‘em?” She took hold of Vanille’s shoulders, forcing her to look up at her. “You being dead won’t solve anything. It would just make us sad that we couldn’t do anything to help you. You’re  _ not _ a bad person, no matter what you think. You’re my Vanille.”

The redhead’s lip quivered, crocodile tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. She never did cry quietly or gracefully, instead hiccupping an apology as Fang pulled her to her chest.

“I don’t wanna hear that kind of talk again, you hear me? We’ve got our family back. We stick together.”

They both had an odd sense of déjà vu as the barista called out their order.

* * *

 

No one commented on Vanille’s sniffly state when they arrived with coffee, thankfully for her. Hope pulled her into a conversation when she sat down, and Fang turned to see what Lightning and Snow were heatedly debating.

Their flight had been uneventful, as well, as most of them had decided to catch up on their sleep; save for Hope and Lightning, who had spent the majority of the flight catching up. The rosette felt a strange sense of pride as she listened to Hope speak of his accomplishments throughout his years. She knew he was smart, but being a director of a top-notch oil company still managed to impress her.

“Hey, you can actually see some of the beaches from here,” Hope said, pointing to his window. Below lay white, sandy beaches, calm waves lapping at the shores. They had almost reached the Pensacola airport. “I haven’t been to a beach in a while.”

Lightning leaned over to see. “Reminds me of Bodhum. When Serah and I were little, my parents would take us to the beach all the time.”

“I remember seeing the fireworks there with my mother. You were lucky to live in such a lively place.”

She smiled faintly, settling back in her seat. “I just wish I was around more to enjoy it. New Bodhum is a good place, but it’s not the same, you know?”

He nodded, agreeing with her. “There are memories there.”

A comfortable silence settled over them. Snow shifted in the seat next to Lightning, but didn’t wake up. Light didn’t even notice the words leaving her lips, “I miss this.”

“Miss what?”

“Being together. All of us. I know we have our own schedules and lives, but we’d been together for so long before that. It’s nice…having a family, again.”

Hope was slightly caught off guard as Light used the word “family”. He’d never see her without her emotional walls up before last night, and for her to feel comfortable enough to share her thoughts with him brought a warm feeling to his chest. He could tell there was  _ something  _ between them— yet he was too afraid to address it. He might have been older than her, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still intimidated by her.

“Well, family sticks together. We can’t forget each other.”

Light hummed in response, leaning her head back against the seat as she closed her eyes. She didn’t notice her head falling slightly to the side, or Hope scooting closer so she landed on his shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i didn't plan for this chap to be so family oriented, but i rather like how it turned out.   
> also, i'm now taking requests! pm for more info.


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